Plutarch's Moralia : twenty essays

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EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY
EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS

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V.ref:

PLUTARCH'S MORAL ESSAYS
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY E. H. BLAKENEY, M.A.

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INTRODUCTION

Philemon Holland, designated (not inaptly) by Fuller as
" the translator-generall of his age," was bom at Chelmsford in
1552, the year of Spenser's birth, and twelve years before Shake-
speare. He was educated at Chelmsford Grammar School, and
at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a pupil of Whit-
gift, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. He not only took
his degree of M.A., but, later in life, graduated M.D. As no
record of this degree is to be found in the Oxford or Cambridge
registers, it has been thought that it was conferred upon him
either at a Scotch or Continental University.

Soon after taking his M.D., Holland settled at Coventry,
which was to be his home till he died in 1637 (the year of Ben
Jonson's death). His medical practice being small, he eked
out his time and a somewhat precarious income by devoting
himself to translations of the classics. The chief of these
translations, published in vast folios that are nowadays some-
what scarce and difficult to procure, are: Livy, Ammianus
Marcellinus, Pliny's Natural History, Suetonius, and the
Morals of Plutarch. The most popular of these versions was,
perhaps, the Pliny, issued in two folios in 160 1. The Plutarch
was published two years later; twenty years after his death
it was re-issued, in " a revised and corrected " form, we are
told. Since then it has not been reprinted until now; the
present volume is a selection from the moral essays of the
popular Greek writer, whose Parallel Lives, as Englished by
North, have become an English classic.

In the year 1608, Holland, already famous as a translator
(even in an age of famous translations), became usher of the
free school at Coventry; twenty years later he was appointed
to the headmastership. He was an old man at the time of
his appointment; and the duties — at any time irksome to a
scholar of his parts — must have proved too exhausting.
Whatever be the cause, he resigned the post at the end of ten
months. The remainder of his life was clouded by pecuniary
anxieties. The res angusta domi was, unhappily, no trifling
nor temporary discomfort, aggravated as it was by failing
health. It is, however, to be remarked that in 1632 a small

viii Plutarch's Morals

pension — a pittance, rather — was awarded him by the city
lie had served so well both in scholastic and civic capacities;
and not long afterwards, in consideration of his " learning and
worthy parts," he received some monetary assistance from
Magdalene College, Cambridge. It was not creditable that
his own college, " the royal and religious foundation " of
Trinity, apparently made no provision for her distinguished
'" alumnus," despite his evident claims on her liberality.

Holland was, almost to the end, an indefatigable student.
His contemporoiries, prone to notice such trivialities, remarked
{inter alia) that he never wore spectacles ; and it was commonly
reported that he wrote one of his folios with a single quill pen.
His eyesight must have been extraordinarily good. There is
a beautiful specimen, still preserved at Coventry, of his Greek
caligraphy; and Baskerville — a fine judge in such matters —
borrowed this when cutting the matrices for his famous fount
•of Greek type.

Holland's renderings are, in their own way, unique. " He
had," says one writer, " a most admirable knack in translating
books . . . several of the most obscure being translated by
him, one of which was Plutarch's Morals." Pope, in the
Dunciad, mentions the fine old Tudor writer only to gibe at the
" weight " (in avoirdupois) of his huge folios — a just enough
criticism, it is true, but apt to mislead the unwary reader.
It was an age of huge folios; most of them do but cumber
the shelves in our great public libraries, where they lie, un-
dusted and unread. But the books of Philemon Holland
deserve a better fate than to be ensepulchred in the untoward
company of forgotten divines. They have a fine literary
flavour about them; there is a spaciousness of diction, com-
bined with a pomp of words, in their pages which arrests and
charms those of us who have grown aweary of the smart-
ness and trim perspicacity of the Macaulayesque tradition.
" Construes " his renderings certainly are not; but they are
translations in the best sense of the term; that is, they
" carry over " the sense of the original into an alien language,
not without a considerable — perhaps undue — heightening of
effects. Of the severity and self-constraint of the Latin or
Greek they have little trace; grave Roman and delicate
Hellene appear, in his pages, tricked in the ruffles of the
Elizabethan age. Holland has indeed transmuted the form
of his original, and given it alike the spaciousness and the
quaintness of a later and more elaborate epoch.

Introduction ix

Let me take, by way of illustration, an example from Livy ;
I give first of all a literal rendering of the Latin, followed by
Holland's version: the passage is from the celebrated twenty-
first book, where the Roman historian gives us an unforget-
able picture of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps.

" On the ninth day they reached the crest of the Alps by paths for the
most part trackless, and by winding ways, caused either by the treachery
of the guides, or, when these latter were distrusted, by rash entry into
valleys on the part of men conjecturing as to the route. For two days
fixed quarters were held on the ridge, and rest was allowed the soldiers
wearied by toil and fighting ; and a number of beasts of burden, which
had fallen among the rocks, reached camp by following the footprints of
the column. To men wearied with the fatigue of so many misfortunes,
a fall of snow (for the Pleiades were now setting) brought fresh alarm.
When, after the standards had been moved forward at dawn, the column
was advancing over ground everywhere blocked with snow, and listlessness
and despair were noticeable in the looks of all, Hannibal moved to the van ;
he bade his soldiers halt on a certain spur of rock whence there was a
view far and wide, and pointed out Italy and the plains about the Padus
lying at the foot of the Alps; saying that they were crossing not only the
walls of Italy, but the walls also of Rome. The rest of the journey would
be straightforward, and downhill. By one, or at most two, battles, they
would hold in their power and grip the citadel and capital of Italy."

This appears in Holland's version as follows:

" The ninth day he woon the verie tops of the Alpes, through by-lanes
and blind cranks: after he had wandered many times out of the way,
either through the deceitfulness of their gmdes, or for that, when they
durst not trust them, they adventured rashly themselves upon the vallies,
and guessed the way at adventure, and went by aime. Two days abode
he encamped upon the tops thereof; and the soldiers, wearied with
travaile and fight, rested that time: certain also of the sumpter horses
(which had slipt aside from the rockes) by following the tracks of the
armie as it marched, came to the campe. When they were thus over-
toiled and wearied with these tedious travailes, the snow that fell — for
now the starre Vergilie was set and gone downe out of that horizon —
increased their feare exceedingly. Now wheneas at the breake of day the
ensignes were set forward, and the army marched slowly, through the
thicke and deepe snow; and that there appeared in the countenance of
them all slouthfulness and desperation: Anniball advanced before the
standerds, and commaunded his soldiours to stay upon a certaine high hill
(from whence they had a goodly prospect and might see a great way all
about them), and there showed unto them Italie, and the goodly champion
fields about the Po, which lie hard under the foote of the Alpine mountains;
saying. That even then they mounted the walls, not only of Italy but
also of the citie of Rome ; as for all besides (saith hee) will be plaine and
easie to be travelled: and, after one or two battles at the most, ye shall
have at your command the verie castle and head citie of all Italy."

Philemon Holland's knowledge of the classics, unlike that
of North, who made his version through the proxy of Amyot's
renderings, was accurate and thorough. But above all, his
knowledge of his mother tongue was rare and consummate.
" Have I not (he asks) Englished every word aptly ? " There
is but one answer; apt he was, not in rendering one author.

X Plutarch's Morals

but in all that he attempted. He had a positive genius for
style, the distinguished Tudor style, so full of music, so rich,
so ardent. He has none of the " concinnity " (to use such a
word) of the writers of a succeeding date; he produced his
eflFects by means familiar enough to Jeremy Taylor, to Hooker,
to Milton, but alien from the austerity of his models as from
the fashion of essayists trained in the later French school.

Old Thomas Fuller, in discoursing upon Holland, declared
" that the books alone of his turning into English will make
a country gentleman a complete library for historians." Be
that as it may — and the implied compliment has something
of a double edge — we may safely accept the dictum of a just
and clear-sighted modern critic ^ when he says: " Philemon
Holland still remains the first translator of his age ; and if the
Bible is the Shakespeare of translation, then Philemon Holland
is the ingenious Ben Jonson of a splendid craft."

Note ox Plutarch

Curiously, little is known of the life of Plutarch, considering
his fame both in ancient and modem times. The main facts
appear to be as follows: He was bom somewhere about
A.D. 50, at Chaeronea, in Boeotia. He studied at Athens
under Ammonius, a philosopher of some distinction at the
time, whose lectures and teaching gave a lasting bent to his
pupil's mind; for Plutarch was nothing if not a moral philo-
sopher. The aim of his life, as it has been justly said, was
the illumination of mind by morality; even his biographies
are ethical.

He travelled a little, visiting, among other places, Egypt.
But it was with Italy, and Rome, that he became most familiar,
and his sojourn in the great metropolis — where he gave
lectures on philosophical questions — was, doubtless, a deter-
mining factor in his own intellectual life. At Rome he con-
tracted a number of friendships, though his lack of acquaint-
ance with Latin literature may have deprived him of the full
value of such friendship, from the purely intellectual stand-
point.

On returning to his native town Plutarch devoted himself
not merely to writing biographies and essays, but to the active
business of civic life, even in the circumscribed sphere in which

'■ Mr. Charles Whibley, in his Introduction to the reprint of Holland's
Suetonius in the Tudor Translations Series {1899).

Introduction xi

he found himself. It was no part of his duty, as he conceived
it, to become the mere scholar-recluse; his ideal of civic
virtue forbade it. The ethical side of his character was as
pronounced in the practical, as in the contemplative, side of
life. It is certain that his Lives would not have possessed the
influence that they have assuredly exercised on men so widely
different as Rabelais, Montaigne, Jeremy Taylor, Rousseau,
and Shakespeare, had he allowed the high duties of an en-
lightened citizenship to remain unemployed. As it is, the
Lives have had more influence on the modern world than
almost any other book of classical antiquity.^ Of Shake-
speare's indebtedness to Plutarch little need be said; it is
writ large in many of his historical plays, as every student is
aware.

The M or alia, or " Morals," are less well known than these
biographical portraits, but they are worthy of attention, if
only for the admirable spirit which breathes through the sixty
odd " essays " of which the collection is composed. The
essay on Superstition (included in the present selection) is,
says a good authority, " one of the most eloquent and closely-
reasoned compositions of antiquity." ^ Though not a deep
thinker, " the devout and cultured " ^ Plutarch was a man of
rare gifts, with an encyclopaedic range. We love him for his
kindliness and his urbanity, his sincerity and his real goodness
of heart. Professor MahaSy has happily described him as
" the spokesman of the better life that still survived in the
Greek world," in the autumn of its history.*

As to the chronological order of his works, we are still
greatly in the dark. Probably their composition was spread
over a considerable period ; none appear to have been written
in early life. If we date the bulk of his essays as belonging
to the years a.d. 90-110, we shall probably not be far astray.
He died somewhere about a.d. 120.

E. H, BLAKENEY.
The King's School, Ely.
December 31, 1911.

^ " As a literary art ancient biography reached its highest perfection
in Plutarch's gallery of great men " (Bury, Ancient Greek Historians).

* Cf. Campbell, Religion in Greek Literature, p. 372; Taylor, Ancient
Ideals, ii. 79; Bigg, The Origins of Christianity, pp. 133-135.

' H. M. Gwatkin, Early Church History, ii. 136.

* " To soften Paganism by a gentler philosophy of life, which ap-
proached Christianity, is the great speciality of Plutarch ; and he idealised
both ancient religion and ancient history" (Gregorovius, The Emperor
Hadrian).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

LIVES

Original Text. — First edition, Florence, August 15 17; later editions,
Schaefer, 1812-18, 1820-21, 1825-30; Sintenis, 1839-46, 1884-88; Doehner,
1846-55; Bekker, 1855-57.

Translations. — By Sir Thomas North, from James Amyot's French
text, 1575, 1579, 1595, 1603 (with additional lives) ; later editions, the
1676 being the last complete one: edited, with Introduction by George
Wyndham, Tudor Translations, 1895; by W. H. D. Rouse, " The Temple
Plutarch," 10 vols., 1898, 1899; Selections, for the illustration of Shake-
speare's plays, with notes, glossary, etc., by W. W. Skeat, 1875. By
several hands, with life by Dryden (by whose name the translation is
commonly called), 1683-6^ there were many later editions of which the
most important is that edited and freely revised by Arthur Hugh Clough,
1864, 1876. By W. Langhorne, 1770; later editions: edited by F.
Wrangham, 1826; Bohn, 1853; Chandos Classics, 1884; Camelot Classics
(Selections), 1886; Lubbock's Hundred Books, No. 39. By A. Stewart
and G. Long, with Life of Plutarch, Bohn's Standard Library, 1880-82.

MORALS

Original Text. — First edition, Venice, 1509; later editions, H. Steph-
anus, 1572; H. Estienne, 1573; Ruauld, 1624; J. J. Reiske, 1774-1782;
J. G. Hutten, 1791-1804; D. Wyttenbach, 15 vols, (unfinished), 1795-
1830; F. Diibner, 1846-1855; Bernardakis, 1888-1896.

Translations. — By Philemon Holland, 1603; revised, 1657. Translation
by C. W. King and A. R. Shilleto, 1882-1888; re-issued, 1908. Another
translation by several hands, 1684-1694; re-issued, 1704, 1718. Ed. by
W. W. Goodwin, with a preface by R. W. Emerson, 1874-1878. Selections:
Plutarch's Morals by Way of Abstract (published by Nicholson, London),
1707; Selected Essays from, by way of abstract, 1771.

The present edition is a reprint of Philemon Holland's, as published in
1603.

xu

CONTENTS

PAGB-

Of Moral Virtue ......... z

Of Virtue and Vice ........ 28^

That Virtue may be Taught and Learned . . . .32'

How A Man may discern a Flatterer from a Friend . . 36

Of Meekness, or how a Man should refrain Choler . . 102

Of Curiosity .......... 132

Of the Tranquillity and Contentment of Mind . 133.

Of Unseemly and Naughty Bashfulness . . .187-

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 208

Of Intemperate Speech or Garrulity ..... 244

Of Avarice or Covetousness ....... 276-

Of the Natural Love or Kindness of Parents to their Children 290-

Of the Plurality of Friends ...... 304

Of Fortune . . . . . . . . . , 315

Of Envy and Hatred ........ 322

How A Man may receive Profit by his Enemies . . . 328

How A Man may perceive his own Proceeding and Going

Forward in Virtue 345

Of Superstition 371

Of Exile or Banishment ....... 389,

That we ought not to take up Money upon Usury . . .411

Glossary and Index of Names . . . . . ;. .. 423;

xiu \V 'cO^\SBORO'>

, ... . U;

NOTES

" Plutarch's teaching is too full of topical inconsistencies to be formalised
into a system of Philosophy. But the dominating principle of his teaching,
the paramount necessity of finding a sanction and an inspiration for
conduct in what the wisdom of the past had already discovered, is so
strikingly conspicuous in all his writings that his logical inconsistencies
appear, and are, unimportant.

" It is this desire of making the wisdom and traditions of the past
available for ethical usefulness which actuates his attempt to reconcile the
contradictions, and remove the crudities and inconsistencies, in the three
sources of religious knowledge — Philosophy, Law, Tradition. This is the
principle which gives his teaching unity, and not any external circum-
stances of his life, or his attitude in favour of or in opposition to the tenets
of any particular school." — Oakesmith, The Religion of Plutarch, 1902.

ON THE ESSAY " OF SUPERSTITION"

" ' The profoundest, the most essential and paramount theme of human
interest,' says Goethe, ' is the eternal conflict between Atheism and
Superstition.' Plutarch's tract is a classical sermon on this text, although,
in his presentment of the subject, the mutual antagonism of the two
principles receives less emphasis than the hostility which both alike direct
against the interests of true Religion. He has no sympathy with any
notion similar to that current since his days, in many religious minds, that
Superstition is but a mistaken form of Piety, deserving tenderness rather
than reprehension ; and he maintains that absolute disbelief in God is less
mischievous in its effects upon human conduct and character than its
opposite extreme of superstitious devotion." — Oakesmith, The Religion
of Plutarch, p. 179.

Bacon speaks similarly in his Essay on Superstition: " It were better
to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is imworthy of
Him;" and quotes Plutarch in support of his dictum.

Cf. Harnack's paper, " Greek and Christian Piety," in the Hibbert
Journal for October 191 1.

XIV

ERRATA

p. 140, lines 32 and 35, jor " SirixaipfcrKaKfa," read " iinxaipKaKla.

P. 178, line II, for " r)S{> iiol," read " ijSu not,"

P. 306, line 21, for " iralpos," read " iraipos.

P. 64, note, for " Kai," read " Kai."

P. 162, note, for "pv<pep-^v," read " rpv^epi^v."

■ujin-i

PLUTARCH'S MORALS

OF MORAL VIRTUE

THE SUMMARY

[Before he entereth into the discourse of virtues and vices, he
treateth of moral virtue in general: propounding in the first place
the diversity of opinions of philosophers as touching this point : the
which he discusseth and examineth: Wherein after that he had
begun to dispute concerning the composition of the soul, he adjoineth
his own opinion touching that property which moral virtue hath
particularly by itself, as also wherein it differeth from contemplative
philosophy. Then having defined the mediocrity of this virtue, and
declared the difference between continence and temperance, he
speaketh of the impression of reason in the soul. And by this
means addresseth himself against the Stoics, and disputeth con-
cerning the affections of the soul: proving the inequality therein,
with such a refutation of the contrary objections, that after he had
taught how the reasonless part of the soul ought to be managed,
he discovereth by divers similitudes and reasons, the absurdities of
the said Stoic philosophers, who, instead of well governing and ruling
the soul of man, have as much as lieth in them, extinguished and
abolished the same.]

My purpose is to treat of that virtue which is both called and
also reputed moral, and namely wherein it differeth especially
from virtue contemplative: as having for the subject matter
thereof the passions of the mind, and for the form, reason:
Likewise of what nature and substance it is ; as also, how it doth
subsist and hath the being: to wit, whether that part of the
soul which is capable of the said virtue be endued and adorned
with reason as appropriate and peculiar unto it; or, whether
it borrow it from other parts, and so receiving it, be like unto
things mingled, and adhering to the better: or rather, for that
being under the government and rule of another, it be said to
participate the power and puissance of that which commendeth
it? For, that virtue also may subsist and have an essential
being, without any subject matter and mixture at all, I suppose
it is very evident and apparent. But first and foremost, I hold

A

2 Plutarch's Morals

it very expedient briefly to run through the opinions of other
philosophers, not so much by way of an historical narration and
so an end, as that when they be once shewed and laid abroad,
our opinion may both appear more plainly, and also be held
more surely.

Menedemus, then, who was bom in the city Eretria, abolished
all plurality and difference of virtues, supposing that there was
but one only virtue, and the same known by sundry names:
For he said, that it was but one and the same thing which men
called temperance, fortitude, and justice: like as if one should
say, A reasonable creature and a man, he meaneth the selfsame
thing. As for Ariston, the Chian, he was of opinion likewise,
that in substance there was no more but one virtue, the w-hich
he termed by the name of health: marry, in some divers
respects, there were many virtues, and those different one from
another: as namely, for example, if a man should call our
eyesight, when it beholdeth white things, leucothea: when it
seeth black, melanthie : and so likewise in other matters. For
virtue (quoth he), which concerneth and considereth what we
ought either to do or not to do, beareth the name of prudence:
when it ruleth and ordereth our lust or concupiscence, limiting-
out a certain measure and lawful proportion of time unto
pleasures, it is called temperance: if it intermeddle with the
commerce, contracts, and negotiation between man and man,
then it is named justice : like as (to make it more plain) a knife
is the same still, although it cut, now one thing and then another:
and the fire, notwithstanding it worketh upon sundry matters,
yet it remaineth always of one and the same nature. It seemeth
also, that Zeno, the Citean, inclined in some sort to this opinion,
who in defining prudence, saith, that when it doth distribute to
every man his ovm, it ought to be called justice ; when it is
occupied in objects either to be chosen or avoided, then it is
temperance; and in bearing or suffering, it should be named
fortitude.

Now, they that defend and maintain this opinion of Zeno,
affirm that by prudence he understandeth science or know-
ledge. But Chrysippus, who was of this mind, that each virtue
had a peculiar quality, and according to it, ought to be defined
and set down, wist not how (ere he was aware) he brought into
philosophy, and as Plato saith, raised a swarm of virtues
never known before, and wherewith the schools had not been
acquainted. For like as of valiant he derived valour, of just,
justice, of clement, clemency: so also of gracious he comes in

Of Moral Virtue 3

with gratiosity, of good, goodness, of great^ greatness, of honest,
honesty, and all other such-like dexterities, affabilities, and
courtesies, he termed by the name of virtues, and so pestered
philosophy with new, strange, and absurd words, more iwis than
was needful.

Now these philosophers agree jointly all in this, that they set
down virtue to be a certain disposition and power of the principal
part of the soul, acquired by reason: or rather, that it is reason
itself: and this they suppose as a truth confessed, certain, firm,
and irrefragable. They hold also that the part of the soul
subject to passions, sensual, brutish, and unreasonable, differeth
not from reason by any essential difference, or by nature: but
they imagine that the very part and substance of the soul which
they call understanding, reason, and the principal part, being
wholly turned and changed, as well in sudden passions, as
alterations by habitude and disposition, becometh either vice or
virtue, and in itself hath no brutishness at all: but is named
only unreasonable, according as the motion of the appetite and
lust is so powerful that it becometh mistress, and by that means
she is driven and carried forcibly to some dishonest and absurd
course, contrary to the judgment of reason: For they would
have that very motion or passion itself to be reason, howbeit
depraved and naught, as taking her force and strength from
false and perverse judgment.

Howbeit, all these (as it may seem) were ignorant of this one
point; namely, that each one of us (to speak tnily) is double and
compound: And as for one of these duplicities, they never
thoroughly saw; that only which is of the twain more evident,
to wit, the mixture or composition of the soul and body they
acknowledge. And yet, that there is besides a certain duplicity
in the soul itself, which consisteth of two divers and different
natures: and namely, that the brutish and reasonless part, in
manner of another body, is combined and knit into reason by a
certain natural link of necessity: It seemeth that Pythagoras
himself was not ignorant: And this we may undoubtedly gather
and conjecture by his great diligence which he employed in that
music and harmony which he inferred for the dulcing, taming,
and appeasing of the soul: as knowing full well that all the
parts thereof were not obedient and subject to instruction,
learning, and discipline, nor yet such as might by reason be altered
and trained from vice to virtue : but required some other kind of
persuasive power co-operative with it, for to frame the same
and make it gentle and tractable: for otherwise it would be

4 Plutarch's Morals

hardly or never conquered by philosophy, and brought within
the compass of obedience ; so obstinate and rebellious it is.

And Plato verily was of this opinion (which he professed
openly, and held as a firm and undoubted truth), that the soul
of this universal world is not simple, uniform, and uncom-
pounded, but mixed (as it were) of a certain power of identity *
and of diversity. For after one sort it is governed and turned
about continually in an uniform manner by means of one and
the same order, which is powerful and predominant over all:
and after another sort again, it is divided into circles, spheres,
and motions, wandering and contrary in manner to the other:
whereupon dependeth the beginning of diversity in generation
of all things in the earth. Semblably (quoth he) the soul of man,
being a part and portion of that universal soul of the world,
composed likewise of proportions and numbers answerable to
the other, is not simple and of one nature or affection, but one
part thereof is more spiritual, intelligible, and reasonable, which
ought of right and according to nature have the sovereignty and
command in man: the other is brutish, sensual, erroneous, and
disorderly of itself, requiring the direction and guidance of
another. Now, this is subdivided again into other two parts;
whereof the one is always called corporal or vegetative; the
other thymocides, as one would say, irascible and concupiscible;
which one while doth adhere and stick close to the foresaid gross
and corporal portion: and otherwhiles to the more pure and
spiritual part, which is the discourse of reason; unto which,
according as it doth frame and apply itself, it giveth strength
and vigour thereto. Now the difference between the one and
the other may be known principally by the fight and resistance
that oftentimes is between understanding and reason on the
one side, and the concupiscence and wrathful part on the other;
which sheweth that these other faculties are often disobedient
and repugnant to the best part.

And verily, Aristotle used these principles and grounds
especially above all others at the first, as appeareth by his
writings: but afterwards, he attributed the irascible part unto
the concupiscible, confounding them both together in one, as if
ire were a concupiscence or desire of revenge. Howbeit, this he
always held to the very end, that the brutish and sensual part,
which is subject unto passions, was wholly and ever distinct from
the intellectual part, which is the same that reason: not that
it is fully deprived of reason, as is that corporal and gross part
* i.e. the same.

Of Moral Virtue 5

of the soul, to wit, whereby we have sense only common with
beasts, and whereby we are nourished as plants. But whereas,
this being surd and deaf, and altogether incapable of reason,
doth after a sort proceed and spring from the flesh, and always
cleave unto the body: the other sensual part which is so subject
unto passions, although it be in itself destitute of reason, as a
thing proper unto it: yet nevertheless apt and fit it is to hear
and obey the understanding and discoursing part of the mind;
insomuch as it will turn unto it, suffer itself to be ranged and
ordered according to the rules and precepts thereof; unless it
be utterly spoiled and corrupted, either by blind and foolish
pleasure, or else by a loose and intemperate course of life. As
for them that make a wonder at this, and do not conceive how
that part being in some sort brutish and unreasonable, may yet
be obedient unto reason, they seem unto me as if they did not
well comprehend the might and power of reason : namely, how
great it is, and forcible, or how far forth it may pierce and pass
in command, guidance, and direction; not by way of rough,
churlish, violent, and irregular courses, but by fair and formal
means, which are able to do more by gentle inducements and
persuasions than all the necessary constraints and enforcements
in the world. That this is so, it appeareth by the breath, spirits,
sinews, bones, and other parts of the body, which be altogether
void of reason : howbeit, so soon as there ariseth any motion of
the will, which shaketh (as it were) the reins of reason never so
little, all of them keep their order, they agree together, and yield
obedience. As for example, if the mind and will be disposed
to run, the feet are quickly stretched out and ready for a course;
the hands likewise settle to their business, if there be a motion
of the mind either to throw, or take hold of anything. And
verily, the poet Homer most excellently expresseth the sym-
pathy and conformity of this brutish part of the soul unto
reason in these verses :

Thus wept the chaste Penelope,

And drench'd her lovely face
With dreary tears, which from her eyes

Ran trickling down apace
(, For tender heart, bewailing sore

The loss of husband dear,
Ulysses hight, who was in place

Set by her side full near.
And he himself in soul, no less.

Did pity for to see
His best beloved thus to weep ;

But wise and crafty be

6 Plutarch's Morals

Kept in his tears: for why

His eyes within the lids were set
As stiff as iron and sturdy horn,

One drop would they not shed.

In such obedience to the judgment of reason he had his breath,
spirits, his blood and his tears. An evident proof hereof is to
be seen in those whose fiesh doth rise upon the first sight of fair
and beautiful persons: for no sooner doth reason or law forbid
to come near and touch them, but presently the same falleth,
lieth down, and is quiet again without any stirring or panting
at all. A thing very ordinary and most commonly perceived
in those who be enamoured upon fair women, not knowing at
first who they were: For so soon as they perceive afterwards
that they be their own sisters or daughters, their lust presently
cooleth, by means of reason that toucheth it and interposeth
itself between : so that the body keepeth all the members thereof
decently in order, and obedient to the judgment of the said
reason. Moreover, it falleth out oftentimes that we eat with
a good stomach and great pleasure certain meats and viands
before we know what they are; but after we understand and
perceive once that we have taken either that which was unclean
or unlawful and forbidden: not only in our judgment and
understanding we find trouble and offence thereby; but also
our bodily faculties agreeing to our opinion are dismayed thereat:
so that anon there ensue vomits, sick qualms, and overturnings
of the stomach, which disquiet all the whole frame.

And were it not that I greatly feared to be thought of purpose
to gather and insert in my discourse such pleasant and youthful
inducements, I could infer in this place psalteries, lutes, harps,
pipes, flutes, and other like musical instruments, how they are
devised by Art for to accord and frame with human passions :
for notwithstanding they be altogether without life, yet they
cease not to apply themselves unto us, and the judgment of our
minds, lamenting, singing, and wantonly disporting together
with us, resembling both the turbulent passions, and also the
mild affections and dispositions of those that play upon them.
And yet verily it is reported also of Zeno himself, that he went
one day to the theatre for to hear the musician Amsebeus, who
sung unto the harp: saying unto his scholars. Let us go, sirs,
and learn what harmony and music the entrails of beasts, their
sinews and bones : Let us see (I say) what resonance and melody
bare wood may yield, being disposed by numbers, proportions,
and order.

Of Moral Virtue 7

But leaving these examples, I would gladly demand and ask
of them if when they see dogs, horses, and birds, which we
nourish and keep in our houses, brought to that pass by use,
feeding, and teaching, that they learn to render sensible words,
to perform certain motions, gestures, and divers feats, both
pleasant and profitable unto us; and likewise, when they read
in Homer how Achilles encouraged to battle both horse and
man; they do marvel still and make doubt, whether that part
and faculty in us, whereby we are angry, do lust, joy, or grieve,
be of that nature that it can well obey reason, and be so affected
and disposed thereby that it may give assent thereto: con-
sidering especially that it is not seated or lodged without, nor
separated from us, nor yet framed by anything which is not in
us : no, nor shapen by forcible means and constraint, to wit, by
mould, stroke of hammer, or any such thing; but as it is fitted
and forged by nature, so it keepeth to her, is conversant with
her, and finally perfected and accomplished by custom and
continuance. Which is the reason that very properly manners
be called in Greek by the name rjOos, to give us to understand
that they are nothing else (to speak plainly and after a gross
manner) but a certain quality imprinted by long continuance of
time in that part of the soul which of itself is unreasonable:
and is named r]^os, for that the said reasonless part framed by
reason taketh this quality or difference (call it whether you will)
by the means of long time and custom, which they term rjOos.

For reason is not willing to root out quite all passions (which
were neither possible nor expedient), but only it doth limit them
within certain bounds, and setteth down a kind of or(ier: and
thus after a sort causeth moral virtues not to be impassibilities,,
but rather mediocrities and regularities, or moderations of our
affections: and this it doth by the means of prudence and
wisdom, which reduceth the power of this sensual and pathetical
part unto a civil and honest habitude. For these three things
(they say) are in the soul of man, to wit, a natural puissance or
faculty, a passion or motion, and also an habitude. Now the
said faculty or power is the very beginning, and (as a man would
say) the matter of passions, to wit, the power or aptness to be
angry, to be ashamed, or to be confident and bold. The passion
is the actual moving of the said power: namely, anger itself,
shame, confidence or boldness. The habitude is a settled and
confirmed strength established in the sensual or unreasonable
part by continual use and custom: which if the passions be ill
governed by reason, becoraeth to be a vice; and contrariwise,

8 Plutarch's Morals

a virtue ; in case the same be well ordered and directed thereby.
Moreover, forasmuch as philosophers do not hold and affirm, that
every virtue is a mediocrity nor call it moral: to the end, there-
fore, that we may the better declare and shew the difference, we
had need to fetch the beginning of this discourse farther off.

Of all things then that be in the world, some have their essence
and being of themselves absolutely and simply; others respec-
tively and in relation to us. Absolutely have their being the
earth, the heaven, the stars, and the sea; respectively and in
regard of us, good, evil, profitable, hurtful, pleasant, and
displeasant. Now, it being so, that reason doth contemplate
and behold the one sort as well as the other: the former rank of
those things which are simply and absolutely so, pertain unto
science and speculation, as their proper objects; the second kind
of those things which are understood by reference and regard
unto us, pertain properly unto consultation and action. And as
the virtue of, the former sort is called sapience : so the virtue of
the other is named prudence. For a difference there is between
prudence and sapience: in this, that prudence consisteth in a
certain relation and application of the contemplative faculty of
the soul unto action, and unto the regiment of the sensual part
according to reason : by which occasion prudence had need of the
assistance of fortune: whereas sapience hath nothing to do with
it, no more than it hath need of consultation, for to attain and
reach unto the end it aimeth at. For that indeed it concemeth
such things as be ever one and always of the same sort.

And like as the geometrician never consulteth as touching a
triangle, to wit, whether it hath three angles equal to twain
that be right or no } because he knoweth assuredly that it hath
(for all consultations are concerning things that vary and alter
sometime after one sort, and otherwhiles after another, and
jtiever meddleth with those that be firm, stable, and immutable),
.even so, the understanding and contemplative faculty of the
:mind, exercising her functions in those first and principal things
which be permanent, and have evermore the same nature, not
.capable of change or mutation, is sequestered and exempt alto-
gether from consultation. But prudence, which descendeth to
things full of variety, error, trouble, and confusion, must of
necessity eftsoons intermeddle with casualties, and use delibera-
tion in things more doubtful and uncertain: yea, and after it
hath consulted to proceed unto action, calling and drawing unto
it the reasonless part also to be assistant and present, as drawn
into the judgment of things to be executed. For need those

Of Moral Virtue 9

actions have of a certain instinct and motion to set them forward,
which this moral habitude doth make in each passion, and the
same instinct requireth Ukewise the assistance of reason to Hmit
it that it may be moderate, to the end that it neither exceed the
mean, nor come short and be defective: for that it cannot be
chosen but this brutish and passible part hath motions in it;
some over-vehement, quick and sudden, others as slow again,
and more slack than is meet. Which is the reason that our
actions cannot be good but after one manner: whereas, they
may be evil after divers sorts: like as a man cannot hit the
mark but one way: marry, he may miss sundry ways, either by
overshooting or coming short.

The part and duty, then, of that active faculty of reason
according to nature, is to cut off and take away all those exces-
sive or defective passions, and to reduce them unto a mediocrity.
For whereas the said instinct or motion, either by infirmity,
effeminate delicacy, fear, or slothfulness, doth fail and come
short of duty and the end required, there active reason is present,
ready to rouse, excite, and stir up the same. Again, on the
other side, when it runneth on end beyond all measure, after a
dissolute and disorderly manner, there reason is pressed to
abridge that which is too much, and to repress and stay the
same: thus ruling and restraining these pathetical motions, it
breedeth in man these moral virtues whereof we speak, imprint-
ing them in that reasonless part of the mind : and no other they
are than a mean between excess and defect.

Neither must we think that all virtues do consist in a
mediocrity : for sapience or wisdom, which stand in no need at all
of the brutish and unreasonable part, and consist only in the pure
and sincere intelligence and discourse of understanding, and not
subject to all passions, is the very height and excellency of
reason, perfect and absolute of itself: a full and accomplished
power (I say) wherein is engendered that most divine, heavenly,
and happy knowledge. But moral virtue, which savoureth
somewhat of the earth, by reason of the necessities of our body,
and in which regard it standeth in need of the instrumental
ministry of the pathetical part, for to work and perform her
operations, being in no wise the corruption or abolition of the
sensual and unreasonable part of the soul, but rather the order,
moderation and embellishment thereof, is the extremity and
height of excellence, in respect of the faculty and quality: but
considering the quantity is rather a mediocrity, taking away the
excess on the one side and the defect on the other.

10 Plutarch's Morals

But now, forasmuch as this term of mean or mediocrity may
be understood diverse ways, we are to set down what kind of
mean this moral virtue is. First and foremost, therefore,
whereas there is one mean compounded of two simple extremes,
as a russet or brown colour between white and black: also
that which containeth and is contained must needs be the
middest between the thing that doth contain and is contained,
as for example, the number of 8 is just between 12 and 4, like
as that which taketh no part at all of either extreme, as namely,
those things which we call adiaphora, indifferent, and do partake
neither good nor ill: In none of these significations or senses
can this virtue be called a mean or mediocrity. For surely it
may not be in any wise a composition or mixture of two vices
which be both worse : neither doth it comprehend the less and
defective : or is comprehended of that which is overmuch above
decency and excessive, nor yet is it altogether void of passions
and perturbations, subject to excess and defect, to more and
less than is meet. But this moral virtue of ours, as it is indeed,
so also it is called a mean, especially in respect of that mediocrity
which is observed in the harmony and accord of sounds. For
like as in music there is a note or sound called the mean, for
that it is the middes between the base and treble, which in
Greek be called hypate and nete, and lieth just betwixt the
height and loudness of the one and the lowness or baseness of
the other: Even so, moral virtue being a motion and faculty
about the unreasonable part of the soul, tempereth the remis-
sion and intention, and in one word, taketh away the excess and
defect of the passions, reducing each of them to a certain
mediocrity and moderation that falleth not on any side.

Now, to begin with fortitude, they say it is the mean between
cowardice and rash audacity, of which twain the one is a defect,
the other an excess of the ireful passion. Liberality, between
niggardise and prodigality; clemency and mildness, between
senseless indolence and cruelty; justice, the mean of giving
more or less than due, in contracts and affairs between men:
like as temperance, a mediocrity between the blockish stupidity
of the mind moved with no touch of pleasure, and an unbridled
looseness whereby it is abandoned to all sensuality.

Wherein especially and most clearly is given us to understand
and see the difference between the brutish and the reasonable
part of the soul: and thereby evident it is that wandering
passions be one thing and reason another: for otherwise we
should not discern continency from temperance, nor incon-

Of Moral Virtue 1 1

tinency from intemperance, in pleasure and lusts, if that faculty
of the mind whereby we judge, and that whereby we covet and
desire were all one and the same ; but now, temperance is, when
reason is able to manage, handle and govern the sensual and
passionate part (as if it were a beast brought up by hand and
made tame and gentle, so as it will be ready to obey it in all
desires and lusts, yea, and willing to receive the bit), whereas
continency is when reason doth rule and command concupiscence
as being the stronger, and leadeth it, but not without some
pains and trouble thereof, for that it is not willing to shew
obedience, but striveth, flingeth out sidelong, and goeth crossed,
insomuch as it hath enough to do for to master it with stripes
of the cudgel, and with hard bits of the bridle to hold it in and
restrain it, whiles it resisteth all that ever it may, and putteth
reason to much agony, trouble and travail: which Plato doth
lively represent unto us by a proper similitude, saying that there
be two draught beasts which draw the chariot of our souls,
whereof the worst doth both wince and strive against the other
fellow in the same yoke, and also troubleth the coachman or
charioteer, who hath the conduct of them; putting him to his
shifts that he is fain always to pull in and hold his head hard,
otherwhiles glad to let him slack and give him the head for fear,
as Simonides saith:

Lest that his purple reins full soon
Out of his hands should sUp anon.

Thus you see what the reason is, why they do not vouchsafe
continency the name of a perfect virtue in itself, but think it to
be less than virtue. For there is not in it a certain mediocrity
arising from the symphony and accord of the worse with the
better: neither is the excess of passion cut away, nor yet doth
the appetite yield itself obedient and agreeable to reason: but
doth trouble and vex, and is troubled and vexed reciprocally,
being kept down perforce and by constraint; like as in a
seditious state, both parties at discord, intending mischief and
war one against another, dwell together within the precinct of
one wall: insomuch as the soul of a continent person for the
fight and variance between reason and appetite, may aptly be
compared, as Sophocles saith, unto a city.

Which at one time is full of incense sweet,
Resounding mirth with loud triumphant song.
And yet the same doth yield in every street
All signs of grief, with plaints and groans among.

And hereupon it is also that they hold incontinency to be

12 Plutarch's Morals

less than vice: marry, intemperance they will have to be a full
and complete vice indeed : For that in it as the affection is ill,
so the reason also is corrupt and depraved: and as by the one
it is incited and led to the appetite of filthiness and dishonesty,
so by the other through perverse judgment it is induced to give
consent unto dishonest lusts, and withal groweth to be senseless
and hath no feeling at all of sins and faults which it committeth :
whereas incontinency retaineth still a right and sound judgment
by means of reason: Howbeit, through the vehement and
violent passion which is stronger than reason, it is carried away
against the own judgment. Moreover, in these respects, it
differeth from intemperance: For that the reason of the incon-
tinent person is overmatched with passion ; but of the other, it
doth not so much as enter combat therewith. He, albeit he
contradict, gainsay, and strive a while, yet in the end yieldeth
unto lusts and followeth them; but the intemperate man is led
thereby, and at the first giveth consent and approveth thereof.
Again, the intemperate person is well content, and taketh joy
in having sinned : whereas the other is presently grieved thereat.
Again, he runneth willingly and of his own accord to commit sin
and villainy ; but the incontinent man, maugre and full against
his mind, doth abandon honesty. And as there is this distinct
difference plainly seen in their deeds and actions, so there is no
less to be observed in their words and speeches. For the sayings
ordinarily of the intemperate person be these and such-like:

What mirth in life, what pleasure, what delight,
Without content in sports of Venus bright?
Were those joys past, and I for them unmeet,
Ring out my knell, bring forth my winding sheet.

Another saith:

To eat, to drink, to wench, are principal.
All pleasures else, I accessories call.

As if with all his heart and soul he were wholly given to a
voluptuous life, yea, and overwhelmed therewith. And no less
than those, he also who hath these words in his mouth:

Now suffer me to perish by and by.
It pleaseth, nay, it booteth me to die,

speaketh as one whose appetite and judgment both were out of
order and diseased. But the speeches of incontinent persons be
in another key and far different: for one saith:

My mind is good and thither doth sway.
My nature bad, and puts it away.

Of Moral Virtue 1 3

Another:

Alas, alas, to see how gods above

Have sent to men on earth this misery.
To know their good, and that which they should love.

Yet wanting grace, to do the contrary!

And a third:

Now plucks, now hales, of deadly ire a fire :

But surely, hold my reason can no more:
Than anchor flouke stay ship from being split,

When grounded 'tis on sands near to the shore.

He nameth not unproperly and without good grace the fluke of
an anchor resting lightly upon the loose sand, to signify the
feeble hold that reason hath which is not resolute and firmly
seated, but through the weakness and delicacy of the soul,
rejecteth and forsaketh judgment: And not much unlike here-
unto is this comparison also that another maketh in a contrary
sense :

Much like a ship which fastened is to land
With cordage strong, whereof we may be bold.
The winds do blow, and yet she doth withstand
And check them all, her cables take such hold.

He termeth the judgment of reason, when it resisteth a
dishonest act, by the name of cable and cordage; which not-
withstanding afterwards may be broken by the violence of some
passion (as it were) with the continual gales of a blustering wind.
For to say a very truth, the intemperate person is by his lusts
and desires carried with full sail to his pleasures; he giveth
himself thereto, and thither directeth his whole course : but the
incontinent person tendeth thither also: howbeit (as a man
would say) crookedly and not directly, as one desirous and
endeavouring to withdraw himself, and to repel the passion that
draweth and moveth him to it, yet in the end he also slideth
and falleth into some foul and dishonest act: Like as Timon,
by way of biting scoff, traduced and reproved Anaxarchus in
this wise:

Here shews itself the dogged force of Anaxarchus fell.

So stubborn and so permanent, when once he took a pitch:

And yet as wise as he would seem, a wretch (I heard folk tell)

He judged was: for that to vice and pleasures overmich

By nature prone he was: a thing that sages most do shun,

Which brought him back out of the way, and made him dote anon.

For neither is a wise sage properly called continent, but tem-
perate; nor a fool incontinent, but intemperate: because the
one taiceth pleasure and delight in good and honest things; and

14 Plutarch's Morals

the other is not offended nor displeased with foul and dishonest
actions. And therefore incontinency resembleth properly a
mind (as I may so say) sophistical, which hath some use of
reason, but the same so weak that it is not able to persevere
and continue firm in that which it hath once known and judged
to be right.

Thus you may see the differences between intemperance and
incontinency : As for continency and temperance, they differ also
in certain respects correspondent in some proportion unto those
on the contrary side. For remorse, sorrow, displeasure, and
indignation do not as yet abandon and quit continence: whereas
in the mind of a temperate person all lieth plain and even on
every side; nothing there but quietness and integrity; in such
sort, as whosoever seeth the great obeisance and the marvellous
tranquillity whereby the reasonless part is united and incor-
porate together with the reasonable, might well say:

And then anon the winds were down,

A calm ensued straightway:
No waves were seen, some power divine

The sea asleep did lay ;

namely, when reason had once extinguished the excessive,
furious, and raging motions of the lusts and desires. And yet
these affections and passions which of necessity nature hath ne^
of, the same hath reason made so agreeable, so obeisant, so
friendly and co-operative, yea, and ready to second all good
intentions and purposes ready to be executed, that they neither
run before it nor come dragging behind ; nor yet behave them-
selves disorderly, no, nor shew the least disobedience: so as
each appetite is ruled by reason, and willingly accompanieth it.

Like as the sucking foal doth go
And run with dam, both to and fro.

The which confirmeth the saying of Xenocrates, touching those
who earnestly study philosophy, and practise it: For they only
(quoth he) do that willingly which others do perforce and for
dread of the law, who forbear indeed to satisfy their pleasures,
and turn back, as if they were scared from them for fear of being
bitten of some curst mastiff or shrewd cat, regarding nothing
else but danger that may ensue thereupon.

Now, that there is in the soul a sense and perceivance of that
strength, firmity, and resolution to encounter sinful lusts and
desires, as if it had a power to strive and make head again, it is
very plain and evident: howbeit, some there be who hold and
maintain that passion is nothing different from reason: neither

Of Moral Virtue 1 5

(by their saying) is there in the mind a dissension or sedition
(as it were) of two divers faculties ; but all the trouble that we
feel is no more but an alteration or change of one and the self-
same thing, to wit, reason both ways, which we ourselves are not
able to perceive, for that forsooth it changeth suddenly and with
such celerity: never considering all the while that the same
faculty of the mind is framed by nature to concupiscence and
repentance both: to be angry and to fear: inclined to commit
some foul and dishonest fact, by the allurement of pleasure, and
contrariwise restrained from the same for fear of pain. As for
lust, fear, and all such-like passions, they are no other (say they)
but perverse opinions and corrupt judgments not arising and
engendered in any one part of the soul by itself, but spread over
that which is the chief and principal^ to wit, reason and under-
standing: whereof they be the inclinations, assensions, motions,
and in one word, certain operations which in the turning of a
hand be apt to change and pass from one to another: much like
unto the sudden braids, starts and runnings to and fro of little
children, which how violent soever they be and vehement, yet
by reason of their weakness are but slippery, unsteadfast and
unconstant.

But these assertions and oppositions of theirs are checked and
refuted by apparent evidence and common sense : For what man
is he that ever felt in himself a change of his lust and con-
cupiscence into judgment: and contrariwise an alteration of his
judgment into lust: neither doth the wanton lover cease to love
when he doth reason with himself and conclude that such love is
to be repressed, and that he ought to strive and fight against it:
neither doth he then give over reasoning and judging, when being
overcome through weakness, he yieldeth himself prisoner and
thrall to lust: but like as when by advertisement of reason he doth
resist in some sort a passion arising, yet the same doth still tempt
him: so likewise, when he is conquered and overcome therewith,
by the light of the same reason at that very instant, he seeth
and knoweth that he sinneth and doth amiss: so that neither
by those perturbations is reason lost and abolished ; nor yet by
reason is he freed and delivered from them; but whiles he is
tossed thus to and fro he remaineth a neuter in the midst, or
rather participating in common of them both.

As for those who are of opinion that one while the principal
part of our soul is lust and concupiscence: and then anon that
it doth resist and stand against the same: are much like unto
them who imagine and say that the hunter and the wild beast

1 6 Plutarch's Morals

be not twain, but one body, changing itself, one while into the
form of a hunter, and another time taking the shape of a savage
beast: For both they in a manifest and apparent matter should
seem to be blind and see nothing: and also these bear witness
and depose against their own sense, considering that they find
and feel in themselves really not a mutation or change of one
only thing, but a sensible strife and fight of two things together
with them.

But here they come upon us again and object in this wise.
How Cometh it to pass then (say they) that the power and
faculty in man which doth deliberate and consult is not likewise
double (being oftentimes distracted, carried, and drawn to con-
trary opinions, as it is, namely, touching that which is profitable
and expedient), but is one still and the same? True, we must
confess, that divided it seemeth to be : But this comparison doth
not hold, neither is the event and effect alike: for that part of
our soul wherein prudence and reason is seated fighteth not with
itself, but using the help of one and the same faculty, it handleth
divers arguments, or rather, being but one power of discoursing,
it is employed in sundry subjects and matters different: which
is the reason that there is no dolour and grief at one end of those
reasonings and discourses which are without passion; neither
are they that consult forced (as it were) to hold one of those
contrary parts against their mind and judgment; unless per-
adventure it so fall out that some affection lie close to one part
or other, as if a man should secretly and underhand lay some-
what besides in one of the balances or scales against reason for
to weigh it down. A thing (I assure you) that many times
falleth out: and then it is not reason that is poised against
reason; but either ambition, emulation, favour, jealousy, fear,
or some secret passion, making semblance as if in shew of
speeches, two reasons were at variance and differed one from
another. As may appear by these verses in Homer:

They thought it shame the combat to reject,
And yet for fear they durst not it accept.

Likewise in another poet:

To suffer death is dolorous,

Though with renown it meet:
Death to avoid is cowcurdice:

But yet our life is sweet.

And verily in determining of controversies between man and
man in their contracts and suits of law, these passions coming

Of Moral Virtue 1 7

betweenare they that make the longest delays, and be the greatest
enemies of expedition and despatch: like as in the counsels
of kings and princes, they that speak in favour of one party
and ior to win grace, do not upon any reason of two sentences
incline to the one, but they accommodate themselves to their
affection, even against the regard of utility and profit.

And this is the cause that in those states which be called
aristocraties, that is to say, governed by a senate or counsel of
the greatest men, the magistrates who sit in judgment will not
suffer orators and advocates at the Bar to move affections in
all their pleas: for in truth, let not the discourse of reason be
impeached and hindered by some passion, it will of itself tend
directly to that which is good and just. But in case there do
arise a passion between, to cross the same, then you shall see
pleasure and displeasure to raise a combat and dissension, to
encounter that which by consultation would have been judged
and determined. For otherwise, how cometh it to pass that in
philosophical discourses and disputations a man shall never see
it otherwise, but that without any dolour and grief, some are
turned and drawn oftentimes by others into their opinions,
and subscribe thereto willingly? Nay, even Aristotle himself,
Democritus also and Chrysippus, have been known to retract
and recant some p)oints which beforetime they held, and that
without any trouble of mind, without grief and remorse, but
rather with pleasure and contentment of heart: because in that
speculative or contemplative part of the soul, which is given to
knowledge and learning only, there reign no passions to make
resistance, insomuch as the brutish part being quiet and at
repose, loveth not curiously to intermeddle in these and such-
like matters: By which means it happeneth that the reason
hath no sooner a sight of truth but willingly it inclineth thereto,
and doth reject untruth and falsity: for that there lieth in it
and in no other part else, that power and faculty to believe and
give assent one way, as also to be persuaded for to alter opinion
and go another way. Whereas, contrariwise, the counsels and
deliberations of worldly affairs, judgments also, and arbitra-
ments, being for the most part full of passions, make the way
somewhat difficult for reason to pass, and put her to much trouble.
For in these cases the sensual and unreasonable part of the
soul is ready to stay and stop her course; yea, and to fright
her from going forward, meeting her either with the object of
pleasure, or else casting in her way stumbling-blocks of fear, of
pain, of lusts and desires.

1 8 Plutarch's Morals

And verily the deciding and judgment of this disputation
lieth in the sense, which feeleth as well the one as the other, and
is touched with them both: For say that the one doth surmount
and hath the victory, it doth not therefore defeat utterly and
destroy the other; but drawn it is thereto perforce, and making
resistance the while. As for example, the wanton and amorous
person, when he checketh and reproveth himself therefore, useth
the discourse of reason against the said passion of his; yet so
as having them both actually subsisting together in the soul:
much like as if with his hand he repressed and kept down the
one part, inflamed with a hot fit of passion, and yet feeling
within himself both parts, and those actually in combat one
against the other. Contrariwise, in those consultations, dis-
putes, and inquisitions which are not passionate, and wherein
these motions of the brutish part have nothing to do, such I
mean as those be especially of the contemplative part of the soul:
if they be equal and so continue, there ensueth no determinate
judgment and resolution: but a doubt remaineth, as if it were
a certain pause or stay of the understanding, not able to proceed
farther, but abiding in suspense between two contrary opinions.
Now if it chance to incline unto one of them, it is because the
mightier hath overweighed the other and annulled it yet so
as it is not displeased or discontent, no, nor contesteth obstinately
afterwards against the received opinion. To be short, and to
conclude all in one general word; where it seemeth that one
discourse and reason is contrary unto another; it argueth not
by and by a conceit of two divers subjects, but one alone in
sundry apprehensions and imaginations.

Howbeit, whensoever the brutish and sensual part is in a con-
flict with reason, and the same such that it can neither vanquish
nor be vanquished without some sense of grievance; then
incontinently this battle divideth the soul in twain, so as the
war is evident and sensible. And not only by this fight a man
may know how the source and beginning of these passions
diff ereth from that fountain of reason : but no less also by the
consequence that foUoweth thereupon. For seeing that possible
it is for a man to love one child that is ingenuous and towardly
disposed to virtue: as also affect another as well, who is ill given
and dissolute: considering also that one may use anger unjustly
against his own children or parents: and another contrariwise
justly in the defence of children or parents against enemies and
tyrants. Like as in the one there is perceived a manifest combat
and resistance of passion against reason; so in the other there

Of Moral Virtue 19

may be seen as evident a yielding and obeisance thereof,
suffering itself to be directed thereby, yea, and willingly running
and offering her assistance and helping hand.

To illustrate this by a familiar example, it happeneth other-
whiles that an honest man espouseth a wife according to the
laws, with this intention only, to cherish and keep her tenderly,
yea, and to company with her duly, and according to the laws of
chastity and honesty: howbeit afterwards in tract of time, and
by long continuance and conversing together, which hath bred
in his heart the affection of love, he perceiveth by discourse of
reason, and findeth in himself that he loveth her more dearly and
entirely than he purposed at the first. Semblably , young scholars ,
having met with gentle and kind masters at the beginning, follow
and affect them in a kind of zeal, for the benefit only that they
reap by them. Howbeit afterwards in process of time they fall
to love them; and so instead of familiar and daily disciples,
they become their lovers, and are so called. The same is usually
to be seen in the behaviour and carriage of men toward good
magistrates in cities, neighbours also, kinsfolk and allies: For
they begin acquaintance one with another, after a civil sort
only, by way of duty or necessity and use: but afterwards, by
little and little ere they be aware, they grow into an affectionate
love of them, namely, when reason doth concur, persuading
and drawing unto it that part of the mind which is the seat of
passions and affections. As for that poet, whosoever he was,
that first wrote this sentence:

Two sorts there be of bashfulness.

The one we cannot blame,
The other troubleth many a house.

And doth decay the same:

doth he not plainly shew that he hath found in himself, by
experience oftentimes, that even this affection, by means of
lingering delay, and putting off from time to time, hath put him
by the benefit of good opportunities, and hindered the execution
of many brave affairs?

Unto these proofs and allegations precedent the Stoics being
forced to yield, in regard they be so clear and evident: yet for
to make some way of evasion and escape, they call shame,
bashfulness; pleasure, joy; and fear, wariness or circum-
spection. And I assure you, no man could justly find fault
with these disguisements of odious things with honest terms:
if so be they would attribute unto these passions the said names

?o Plutarch's Morals

when they be ranged under the rule of reason, and give them
their own hateful terms indeed, when they strive with reason
and violently make resistance. But when convinced by the
tears which they shed, by trembling and quaking of their joints,
yea, by change of colour going and coming; instead of naming
dolour and fear directly, come in with (I wot not what) pretty
devised terms of morsures, contractions or conturbations : also
when they would cloak and extenuate the imperfection of other
passions, by calling lust a promptitude or forwardness to a thing:
it seemeth that by a flourish of fine words they devise shifts,
evasions, and justifications, not philosophical but sophistical.

And yet verily they themselves again do term those joys,
those promptitudes of the will, and wary circumspections by
the name of eufathies, i.e. good affections, and not of apathies,
that is to say, impassibilities: wherein they use the words
aright and as they ought. For then is it truly called eupaihy,
i.e., a good affection, when reason doth not utterly abolish the
passion, but guideth and ordereth the same well in such as be
discreet and temperate. But what befalleth unto vicious and
dissolute persons? Surely, when they have set down in their
judgment and resolution, to love father and mother as tenderly
as one lover may another, yet they are not able to perform so
much. Marry, say that they determine to affect a courtesan
or a flatterer, presently they can find in their hearts to love
such most dearly. Moreover, if it were so, that passion and
judgment were both one, it could not otherwise be, so soon as
one had determined that he ought to love or hate, but that
presently love or hate would follow thereupon.

But now it falleth out clean contrary; for that the passion as
it accordeth well with some judgments and obeyeth, so it
repugneth with others, and is obstinate and disobedient: where-
upon it is, that themselves enforced thereto by the truth of the
thing, do affirm and pronounce that every judgment is not a
passion, but that only which stirreth up and moveth a strong
and vehement appetite to a thing: confessing thereby, no doubt,
that one thing it is in us which judgeth, and another thing that
suffereth, that is to say, which receiveth passions: like as that
which moveth, and that which is moved be divers. Certes,
even Chrysippus himself, defining in many places what is
patience and what is continency, doth avouch that they be
habitudes, apt and fit to obey and follow the choice of reason:
whereby he sheweth evidently that by the force of truth, he
was driven to confess and avow that there is one thing in us

Of Moral Virtue 21

which doth obey and yield, and another which being obeyed,
is yielded unto, and not obeyed, is resisted.

Furthermore, as touching the Stoics, who hold that all sins
and faults be equal, neither will this place nor the time now
serve to argue against them, whether in other points they
swerve from the truth : howbeit, thus much by the way I dare be
bold to say, that in most things they will be found to repugn
reason, even against apparent and manifest evidence. For
according to their opinion, every passion or perturbation is a
fault, and whosoever grieve, fear or lust, do sin: but in those
passions great difference there is seen, according to more or
less : for who would ever be so gross as to say that Dolon's fear
was equal to the fear of Ajax? who, as Homer writeth:

As he went out of field did turn

And look behind full oft :
With knee before knee decently.

And so retired soft ;

or compare the sorrow of King Alexander, who would needs
have killed himself for the death of Clytus, to that of Plato for
the death of Socrates .'' For dolours and griefs encrease exceed-
ingly when they grow upon occasion of that which happeneth
besides all reason; like as any accident, which falleth out
beyond our expectation, is more grievous, and breedeth greater
anguish than that whereof a reason may be rendered, and which
a man might suspect to follow. As, for example, if he who
ever expected to see his son advanced to honour and living in
great reputation among men, should hear say that he were in
prison, and put to all manner of torture, as Parmeno was adver-
tised of his son Philotas. And who will ever say that the
anger of Nicocreon against Anaxarchus was to be compared with
that of Magas against Philemon, which arose upon the same
occasion, for that they both were spitefully reviled by them in
reproachful terms, for Nicocreon caused Anaxarchus to be braid
in a mortar with iron pestles: whereas Magas commanded the
executioner to lay a sharp naked sword upon the neck of
Philemon, and so to let him go without doing him any more
harm.

And therefore it is that Plato named anger the sinews of the
soul, giving us thereby to understand that they might be
stretched by bitterness, and let slack by mildness. But the
Stoics, for to avoid and put back these objections and such-like,
deny that these stretchings and vehement fits of passions be
according to judgment, for that it may fail and err many ways:

22 Plutarch's Morals

saying, they be certain pricks or stings, contractions, diffusions
or dilatations, which in proportion and according to reason,
may be greater or less. Certes, what variety there is in judg-
ment it is plain and evident. For some there be that deem
poverty not to be ill : others hold that it is very ill : and there
are, again, who account it the worst thing in the world ; insomuch
as to avoid it they could be content to throw themselves head-
long from high rocks into the sea. Also you shall have those
who reckon death to be evil, in that only it depriveth us of the
fruition of many good things; others there be who think and
say as much, but it is in regard of the eternal torments and
horrible punishments that be under the ground in hell. As for
bodily health, some love it no otherwise than a thing agree-
able to nature and profitable withal; others take it to be the
sovereign good in the world, as without which they make no
reckoning of riches, of children,

Nor yet of crown and regal dignity,
Which men do match even with divinity.

Nay, they let not in the end to think and say, that virtue itself
serveth in no stead, and availeth nought, unless it be accom-
panied with good health : whereby it appeareth, that as touching
judgment some err more, some less.

But my meaning is not now to dispute against this evasion
of theirs. Thus much only I purpose to take for mine advantage
out of their own confession, in that themselves do grant, that
the brutish and sensual part, according to which they say that
passions be greater and more violent, is different from judgment:
and howsoever they may seem to contest and cavil about words
and names, they grant the substance and the thing itself in
question, joining with those who maintain that the reasonless
part of the soul which entertaineth passions is altogether different
from that which is able to discourse, reason, and judge. Andverily
Chrysippus, in those books which he entituled 0/ Anomology,
after he had written and taught that anger is blind, and many
times will not permit a man to see those things which be plain
and apparent, and as often casteth a dark mist over that which
he hath already perfectly learned and known; proceedeth
forward a little further: For (quoth he) the passions which arise
drive out and chase forth all discourse of reason, and such things
as were judged and determined otherwise against them, urging
it still by force unto contrary actions. Then he useth the

Of Moral Virtue 23

testimony of Menander the poet, who in one place writeth thus,
by way of exclamation :

Woe worth the time, wretch that I am,

How was my mind distraught
In body mine? where were my wits?

Some folly (sure) me caught,
What time I fell to this. For why?

Thereof I made no choice.
Far better things they were, iwis

Which had my former voice.

The same Chrysippus also going on still: It being so (quoth
he) that a reasonable creature is by nature bom and given to
use reason in all things, and to be governed thereby: yet not-
withstanding we reject and cast it behind us, being overruled
by another more violent motion that carrieth us away. In
which words, what doth he else but confess even that which
happeneth upon the dissension between affection and reason?

For it were a mere ridiculous mockery indeed, as Plato saith,
to affirm that a man were better and worse than himself: or
that he were able now to master himself, and anon ready to be
mastered by himself, and how were it possible that the same
man should be better and worse than himself, and at once both
master and servant, unless every one were naturally in some
sort double, and had in him somewhat better and somewhat
worse ?

And verily by that means, he that hath the worse part
obedient to the better, hath power over himself, yea, and is
better than himself: whereas he that suffereth the brutish and
unreasonable part of his soul to command and go before, so as
the better and more noble part doth follow, and is serviceable
unto it, he no doubt is worse than himself: he is (I say) incon-
tinent or rather impotent, and hath no power over himself, but
disposed contrary to nature. For according to the course and
ordinance of nature, meet and fit it is that reason, being divine
and heavenly, should command and rule that which is sensual
and void of reason : which as it doth arise and spring out of the
very body, so it resembleth it, as participating the properties
and passions thereof, yea, and naturally is full of them, as being
deeply concorporate and throughly mixed therewith: As it
may appear by all the motions which it hath, tending to no
other things but those that be material and corporal, as receiving
their augmentations and diminutions from thence (or to say
more properly), being stretched out and let slack more or less,
according to the mutations of the body. Which is the cause

24 Plutarch's Morals

that young persons are quick, prompt^ and audacious; rash also,
for that they be full of blood, and the same hot, their lusts and
appetites are likewise fiery, violent and furious: whereas con-
trariwise in old folk because the source of concupiscence seated
about the liver is after a sort quenched, yea, and become weak
and feeble: reason is more vigorous and predominant in them:
as much as the sensual and passionate part doth languish and
decay together with the body.

And verily this is that which doth frame and dispose the
nature of wild beasts to divers passions: For it is not long of
any opinions good or bad which arise in them, that some of
them are strong, venturous and fearless, yea, and ready to
withstand any perils presented before them ; others again be so
surprised with fear and fright that they dare not stir or do
anything: but the force and power which lieth in the blood, in
the spirits and in the whole body, is that which causeth this
diversity of passions, by reason that the passible part, growing
out of the flesh as from a root, doth bud forth and bring with it
a quality and proneness semblable. But in man that there is a
sympathy and fellow moving of the body, together with the
motions of the passions, may be proved by the pale colour, the
red flushing of the face, the trembling of the joints, and panting
and leaping of the heart in fear and anger: And again on the
contrary side by the dilatations of the arteries^ heart and colour,
in hope and expectation of some pleasures.

But when as the divine spirit and understanding of man doth
move of itself alone without any passion, then the body is at
repose and remaineth quiet, not communicating nor participat-
ing any whit with the operation of the mind and intendment,
no more than it being disposed to study upon any mathematical
proposition or other science speculative, it calleth for the help
and assistance of the unreasonable part: By which it is manifest,
that there be two distinct parts in us, different in faculty and
power one from another. In sum, Go through the universal
world, all things (as they themselves afhrm, and evident ex-
perience doth convince) are governed and ordered, some by a
certain habitude; others by nature: some by a sensual and
unreasonable soul; others by that which hath reason and
understanding. Of all which man hath his part at once, yea,
and was born naturally with these differences above said. For,
contained he is by an habitude: nourished by nature: reason
and understanding he useth: he hath his portion likewise of
that which is unreasonable and inbred, there is together with

Of Moral Virtue 25

him the source and primitive cause of passions, as a thing
necessary for him, neither doth it enter into him from without:
in which regard it ought not to be extirped utterly, but hath
need only of ordering and government: whereupon reason
dealeth not after the Thracian manner, nor Hke King Lycurgus,
who commanded all vines without exception to be cut down,
because wine caused drunkenness: it rooteth not out (I say)
all affections indifferently one with another, the profitable as
well as the hurtful: but (like unto the good gods Phytalmius
and Homerides, who teach us to order plants that they may
fructify, and to make them gentle which were savage) to cut
away that which groweth wild and rank, to save all the rest
and so to order and manage the same that it may serve for
good use. For neither do they shed and spill their wine upon
the floor who are afraid to be drunk, but delay the same with
water: nor those who fear the violence of a passion do take it
quite away, but rather temper and qualify the same: like as
folk use to break horses and oxen from their flinging out with
their heels, their stiffness and curstness of the head and stubborn-
ness in receiving the bridle or the yoke, but do not restrain them
of other motions in going about their work and doing their
deed. And even so verily, reason maketh good use of these
passions, when they be well tamed and brought (as it were) to
hand : without over weakening or rooting out clean that part of
the soul which is made for to second reason, and do it good
service: For as Pindarus saith:

The horse doth serve in chariot at the thill,
The ox at plough doth labour hard in field.
Who list in chase the wild boar for to kill,
The hardy hound he must provide with skill.

And I assure you, the entertainment of these passions and their
breed serve in far better stead when they do assist reason and
give an edge (as it were) and vigour unto virtues, than the
beasts above named in their kind. Thus moderate ire doth
second valour and fortitude: hatred of wicked persons helpeth
the execution of justice: and indignation is just and due unto
those who without any merit or desert enjoy the felicity of this
life: who also for that their heart is puffed up with foolish
arrogancy, and enflamed with disdainful pride and insolence in
regard of their prosperity, have need to be taken down and
cooled. Neither is a man able by any means (would he never
so fain) to separate from true friendship, natural indulgence, and
kind affection: nor from humanity, commiseration and pity;

26 Plutarch's Morals

nor yet from perfect benevolence and goodwill, the fellowship
in joy and sorrow.

Now if it be true (as it is indeed) that they do grossly err
who would abolish all love, because of foolish and wanton love:
surely they do amiss who, for covetousness sake and greediness
of money, do blame and condemn quite all other appetites and
desires. They do (I say) as much as those who would forbid
running altogether, because a man may stumble and catch a fall
as he runneth : or debar shooting for that we may overshoot and
miss the mark : or to condemn hearing of music, because a dis-
cord or jar is offensive to the ear. For like as in sounds, music
maketh an accord and harmony, not by taking away the loud
and base notes : And in our bodies physic procureth health, not
by destroying heat and cold, but by a certain temperature and
mixture of them both in good proportion : Even so it fareth in the
soul of man, wherein reason hath the predominance and victory:
namely, when by the power thereof, the passions, perturbations
and motions are reduced into a kind of moderation and medi-
ocrity. For no doubt excessive sorrow and heaviness, immeasur-
able joy and gladness in the soul may be aptly compared to a
swelling and inflammation in the body, but neither joy nor
sorrow simply in itself. And therefore Homer in this wise
sentence of his :

A man of worth doth never colour change.
Excessive fear in him is very strange,

doth not abolish fear altogether, but the extremity thereof; to
the end that a man should not think that either valour is
desperate folly, or confidence audacious temerity. And there-
fore in pleasures and delights, we ought likewise to cut off
immoderate lust: as also in taking punishment, extreme hatred
of malefactors. He that can do so shall be reputed in the one
not indolent, but temperate, and in the other not bitter and
cruel, but just and righteous.

Whereas let passions be rid clean away (if that were possible
to be done), our reason will be found in many things more dull
and idle: like as the pilot and master of a ship hath little to
do if the wind be laid and no gale at all stirring. And verily
(as it should seem) wise law-makers, seeing this well enough,
have with great policy given occasion in cities and common-
wealths of ambition and emulation among citizens one with
ariother: and in the field against enemies devised to excite the
courage of soldiers, and to whet their ire and manhood by sound
of trumpets, fifes, drums, and other instruments. For not only

Of Moral Virtue 27

in poetry (as Plato saith very well) he that is inspired and (as
it were) ravished with the divine instinct of the Muses, will
make a ridiculous fool of him who otherwise is an excellent poet,
and his craftsmaster as having learned the exquisite knowledge
of the art; but also in battles, the heat of courage set on fire
with a certain divine inspiration is invincible and cannot be
withstood. This is that martial fury which (as Homer saith)
the gods do infuse or inspire rather into warlike men:

And again:

Thus having said he did inspire

The prince's heart with might and ire.

One god or other surely doth him assist,
Else faring thus, he never could persist.

As if to the discourse of reason they had adjoined passion as
a prick to incite, and a chariot to set it forward. Certes, even
these very Stoics with whom now we argue, and who seem to
reject all passions, we may see oftentimes how they stir up
young men with praises, and as often rebuke them with sharp
admonitions and severe reprehensions. Whereof there must
needs ensue of the one part pleasure, and of the other part dis-
pleasure. For surely checks and fault-findings strike a certain
repentance and shame: of which tv/o, the former is comprised
under sorrow, and the latter under fear: and these be the means
that they use principally to chastise and correct withal. Which
was the reason that Diogenes upon a time, when he heard Plato
so highly praised and extolled: And what great and worthy
matter (quoth he) find you in that man, who having been a
philosopher so long and taught the precepts thereof, hath not in
all this time grieved and wounded the heart of any one person?
For surely the mathematical sciences a man cannot so properly
call the ears or handles of philosophy (to use the words of
Xenocrates) as he may affirm that these affections of young men,
to wit, bashfulness, desire, repentance, pleasure and pain, are
their handles, whereof reason and law together taking hold by
a discreet, apt and wholesome touch, bring a young man speedily
and effectually into the right way. And therefore the Lace-
daemonian schoolmaster and governor of children said very well,
when he professed that he would bring to pass that the child
whom he took into his tuition should joy in honest things, and
grieve in those that were foul and dishonest. Than which there
cannot possibly be named a more worthy or commendable end
of the liberal education and bringing up of a young youth well
descended.

OF VIRTUE AND VICE

THE SUMMARY

[In this little treatise adjoined aptlj' unto the former, the author
proveth that outward and corruptible things be not they that set
the soul in repose, but reason well ruled and governed : And after
that he hath depainted the miserable estate of wicked and sinful
persons, troubled and tormented with their passions both night and
day, he proveth by proper and apt similitudes that philosophy,
together with the love of virtue, bringeth true contentment and
happiness indeed unto a man.]

It seemeth, and commonly it is thought, that they be the
garments which do heat a man; and yet of themselves they
neither do heat nor bring any heat with them: for take any of
them apart by itself, you shall find it cold ; which is the reason
that men, being very hot and in a fit of fever, love often to
change their clothes, for to cool and refresh their bodies. But
the truth is this, Look what heat a man doth yield from himself,
the clothes or garments that cover the body do keep in the
same, and unite close together: and being thus included and
held in, suffer it not to evaporate, breathe out, and vanish away.
The same error in the state of this life hath deceived many
men, who imagine that if they may dwell in stately and gorgeous
great houses, be attended upon with a number of servants,
retain a sort of slaves, and can gather together huge sums of
gold and silver, then they shall live in joy and pleasure : whereas
in very sooth, the sweet and joyful life proceedeth not from
anything without. But contrariwise, when a man hath those
goodly things about him, it is himself that addeth a pleasure
and grace unto them, even from his own nature and civil
behaviour, composed by moral virtue within him, which is the
very fountain and lively spring of all good contentment.

For if the fire do always burn out light,
More stately is the house, and faire in sight.

Semblably, riches are more acceptable, glory hath the better
and more shining lustre, yea, and authority carrieth the greater
grace, if the inward joy of the soul be joined therewith: For

28

Of Virtue and Vice 29

surely men do endure poverty, exile, and banishment out of their
own countries, yea, and bear the burden of old age willingly
and with more ease, according as their manners be mild, and
the mind disposed to meekness. And like as sweet odours and
aromatical perfumes give a pleasant smell unto threadbare and
ragged clothes; but contrariwise, the rich robe of Anchyses
yielded from under it stinking matter and corrupt blood ; which,
as the poet saith:

Ran down by drops upon his cloak
Of silk so fine, and it did soak.

Even so with virtue, any sort of life and all manner of living
is pleasant and void of sorrow: whereas contrariwise, vice
causeth those things which otherwise seemed great, honourable
and magnificent, to be odious, lothsome and unwelcome to those
that have them, if (I say) it be mingled therewith, according to
the testimony of these vulgar verses:

This man, who whiles he walks abroad in street

Or market-place, is ever happy thought :

No sooner sets within his own house feet,

Thrice wretched but he is, and not for nought.

His wife (as master) hath of all the power.

She bids, commands, she chides and fights each hour.

And yet one may with ease be rid and divorced from such a
curst and shrewd wife, if he be a man indeed, and not a bond-
slave; but for thine own vice, no means will serve to exempt
thee from it. It is not enough to command it to be gone, by
sending a little script or bill of divorcement, and to think thereby
to be delivered from troubles, and so to live alone in quiet and
repose. For it cleaveth close within the ribs, it sticketh fast in
the very bowels, it dwelleth there both night and day:

It burneth thee, yet firebrand none is seen.
And hasteneth age apace before thou ween.

A troublesome companion it is upon the way, by reason of
arrogancy and presumption: a costly and sumptuous guest at
the table for gluttony and gormandise: an unpleasant and
cumbersome bedfellow in the night, in regard of thoughts, cares
and jealousies which break the sleep, or trouble the same with
fantasies. For whiles men lie asleep, the body is at rest and
repose; but the mind all the while is disquieted and affrighted
with fearful dreams and tumultuous visions, by reason of
superstitious fear of the gods:

If that I sleep, when sorrows me surprise.
Then fearful dreams me kill before I rise,

30 Plutarch's Morals

saith one. And even so do other vices serve men : to wit, envy,
fear, wrath, wanton love, and unbridled lust. For in the day-
time, vice looking out, and composing itself somewhat unto
others abroad, is somewhat ashamed of herself, and covereth
her passions; she giveth not herself wholly to her motions and
perturbations, but many times doth strive again and make
resistance: but in sleep, being without the danger of laws and
the opinion of the world, being far removed (as it were) from
fear and shame : then it setteth all lusts awork, then it quickeneth
and raiseth up all lewdness, and then it displayeth all lascivious
wantonness. It tempteth (as Plato saith) a man to have carnal
dealing with his own mother, and to eat of forbidden and unlaw-
ful meats: there is no villany that it forbeareth; executing (so
far forth as it is able) all abomination, and hath the fruition
thereof, if it be but by illusions and fanatical dreams, which end
not in any pleasure, nor accomplishment of concupiscence, but
are powerful only to excite, stir, and provoke still the fits of
secret passions and maladies of a corrupt heart.

Wherein lieth, then, the pleasure and delight of sin, if it be so,
that in no place nor at any time it be void of pensiveness, care
and grief ? if it never have contentment, but always in molesta-
tion and trouble, without repose? As for carnal delights and
fleshly pleasures, the good complexion and sound constitution
of an healthful body giveth thereto means, place, opportunity
and breeding. But in the soul it is not possible that there
should be engendered any mirth, joy and contentment, unless
the first foundation be laid in peace of conscience, and tranquillity
of spirit, void of fear, and enjoying a settled calm in all assurance
and confidence, without any shew of tempest toward. For
otherwise, suppose that some hope do smile upon a man; or
say, that delight tickle a little; the same anon is troubled, and
all the sport is marred by some careful cogitation breaking forth:
like as the object and concurrence of one rock troubleth and
overthroweth all, though the water and weather both be never
so calm.

Now gather gold and spare not by heaps, rake and scrape
together masses of silver, build fair, gallant and stately walking-
places, replenish all thy house with slaves, and a whole city with
debtors: unless withal thou do allay the passions of thy mind;
unless thou stay and appease thy insatiable lust and desire;
unless thou free and deliver thyself from all fear and carking cares:
thou dost as much as strain wine, or make ipocras for one that
is sick of a fever^ give honey to a choleric person diseased with

Of Virtue and Vice 31

the raging motion of choler, offer meats and viands to those that
be sick of the stomachical flux, continual lask, ulceration of the
guts and bloody flux, who neither take pleasure therein, nor are
the better but the worse rather a great deal for them. See you
not how sick folks are offended, and their stomachs rise at
the most fine, costly, and daintiest meats that be offered unto
them? how they spit them forth again, and will none, though
they be forced upon them? And yet afterwards, when the
body is reduced again into good temperature : when pure spirits
and good fresh blood is engendered, and when the natural heat
is restored and become familiar and kind: then they rise up
on their feet to their meat, then their stomachs serve to eat full
savourly of coarse bread with cheese or cresses, and therein they
take great pleasure and contentment: The like disposition in
the mind doth reason work. Then and never before shalt thou be
pleased and at peace with thyself, when thou hast once learned
what is good and honest indeed: In poverty thou shalt live
deliciously like a king: or in a private and quiet state sequestered
from civil and public affairs, thou shalt live as well as they who
have the conduct of great armies, and govern the commonweal.
When thou hast studied philosophy and profited therein, thou
shalt never lead a life in discontentment, but shalt learn how to
away with any estate and course of life, and therein find no
small joy and heart's ease. Thy riches thou wilt rejoice in,
because thou shalt have better means to do good unto all men:
In poverty likewise thou wilt take joy in regard thou shalt have
fewer cares to trouble thee : Glory will turn to thy solace, when
thou shalt see thyself so honoured: and thy low estate and
obscure condition will be no less comfort, for that thou shalt
be safe and secured from envy.

THAT VIRTUE MAY BE TAUGHT AND
LEARNED

THE SUMMARY

[Plutarch, refuting here the error of those who are of opinion, that
by good and diUgent instruction a man cannot become the better,
recommendeth sufficiently the study of virtue. And to prove this
assertion of his, he sheweth that the apprentissage of that which is of
small consequence in this world, witnesseth enough that a man
ought to be trained from day to day to the knowledge of things that
are beseeming and worthy his person: Afterwards, he declareth
that as much travel should be employed to make him comprehend
such things as be far distant from the capacity and excellency of
his spirit: In which discourse he taxeth covertly those vain and
giddy heads, who (as they say) run after their own shadow, whereas
they should stay and rest upon that which is firm and permanent.]

We dispute of virtue, and put in question, whether prudence,
justice, loyalty and honesty may be taught or no? And do
we admire then the works of orators, sailors and shipmasters,
architects, husbandmen, and an infinite number of other such
which be extant? Whereas of good men we have nothing but
their bare and simple names, as if they were hippo-centaurs,
giants, or Cyclopes: and marvel we that of virtuous actions
which be entire, perfect, and unblameable, none can be found:
nor yet any manners so composed according to duty, but that
they be tainted with some passions and vicious perturbations?
yea, and if it happen that nature of herself bring forth some
good and honest actions, the same straightways are darkened,
corrupted and in a manner marred, by certain strange mixtures
of contrary matters that creep into them, like as when among
good com there grow up weeds and wild bushes that choke the
same; or when some kind and gentle fruit is clean altered by
savage nourishment.

Men learn to sing, to dance, to read and write, to till the
ground, and to ride horses, they learn likewise to shoe them-
selves, to do on their apparel decently; they are taught to wait
at cup and trencher, to give drink at the table, to season and
dress meat: and none of all this can they skill to perform and

32

Virtue May Be Taught and Learned 33

do handsomely, if they be not trained thereto: and yet shall

that, for which these and such-like qualities they learn, to wit,

good life and honest conversation, be reckoned a mere casual

thing, coming by chance and fortune, and which can neither be

taught nor learned? Oh, good sirs, what a thing is this? In

saying that virtue cannot be taught, we deny withal that it is,

or hath any being. For if it be true that the learning of it is

the generation and breeding thereof, certes he that hindereth

the one disannulleth the other: and in denying that it may be

taught, we grant that no such thing there is at all: And yet,

as Plato saith, for the neck of a lute not made in proportion to

the rest of the body, there was never known one brother go to

war with another, nor a friend to quarrel with his friend, nor

yet two neighbour cities to fall out and maintain deadly feud,

to the interchangeable working and suffering of those miseiies

and calamities which follow open war. Neither can any man

come forth and say, that by occasion of an accent (as, for

example, whether the word telchines should be pronounced with

the accent over the second syllable or no) there arose sedition

and dissension in any city; or debate in a house between man

and wife about the warp and woof of any web: Howbeit never

man yet would take in hand to wear a piece of cloth, nor handle

a book, nor play upon the lute or harp, unless he had learned

before ; for albeit he were not like to sustain any great loss and

notable damage thereby, yet he would fear to be mocked and

laughed to scorn for his labour, in which case, as Heraclitus

saith, it were better for a man to conceal his own ignorance:

and may such an one think, then, that he could order a house

well, rule a wife, and behave himself as it becometh in marriage,

bear magistracy, or govern a commonweal as he ought, being

never bound and brought up to it? Diogenes, espying upon a

time a boy eating greedily and unmannerly, gave his master or

tutor a good cuff on the ear: and good reason he had so to do,

as imputing the fault rather to him, who had not taught, than

to the boy, who had not learned better manners. And is it so

indeed ? ought they of necessity, who would be mannerly at the

table, both in putting hand to a dish of meat, and taking the

:up with a good grace, or as Aristophanes saith.

At board not feeding greedily,
Nor laughing much, indecently.
Nor crossing feet full wantonly,

CO be taught even from their infancy. And is it possible that
;he same should know how to behave themselves in wedlock,

B

34 Plutarch's Morals

how to manage the affairs of state, how to converse among men,
how to bear office without touch and blame, unless they have
learned first how to carry themselves one toward another?

Aristippus answered upon a time, when one said unto him,
And are you, sir, everywhere? I should (quoth he, laughing
merrily) cast away the fare for ferriage, which I pay unto the
mariner, if I were everywhere. And why might not a man say
likewise, If children be not the better for their teaching, the
salary is lost which men bestow upon their masters and teachers.
But we see that they taking them into their governance presently
from their nurses, like as they did form their limbs and joints
featly with their hands, do prepare and frame their manners
accordingly, and set them in the right way to virtue. And to
this purpose answered very wisely a Laconian schoolmaster to
one who demanded of him, what good he did to the child of
whom he had the charge ? Marry (quoth he), I make him to
take joy and pleasure in those things that be honest. And to
say a truth, these teachers and governors instruct children to
hold up their heads straight as they go in the street, and not to
bear it forward: also, not to dip into sauce but with one finger:
not to take bread or fish but with twain : to rub or scratch after
this or that manner: and thus and thus to truss and hold up
their clothes.

What shall we say then to him who would make us believe
that the art of physic professeth to scour the morphew, or heal
a whit-fiaw: but not to cure a pleurisy, fever, or the phrensy?
And what differeth he from them who hold that there be schools
and rules to teach petties and little children how to be mannerly,
and demean themselves in small matters, but as for great,
important and absolute things, it must be nothing else but use
and custom, or else mere chance and fortune that doth effect
them? For like as he were ridiculous, and worthy to be laughed
at, who should say that no man ought to lay hand upon the
oar for to row but he that hath been prentice to it; but sit at
the stem and guide the helm he may who was never taught it:
even so, he who maintaineth that in some inferior arts there is
required apprentissage, but for the attaining of virtue none at
all, deserveth likewise to be mocked.

And verily, he should do contrary unto the Scythians: For
they, as Herodotus writeth, use to put out the eyes of their
slaves only to the end that being blind they might turn round
about with their milk, and so stir and shake it. But he forsooth
putteth the eye of reason into these base and inferior arts, which

Virtue May Be Taught and Learned 35

are no better than servants waiting upon others; but plucketh
it from virtue. Iphicrates answered contrariwise, being de-
manded of CaUias, the son of Chabrias, by way of contempt and
derision, in this wise, What are you, sir? An archer? A tar-
getiere? A man at arms? or a light-armed soldier? I am none
(quoth he) of all these, but rather one of those who commandeth
them all. Well, ridiculous then is he, and very absurd, who
would say there were an art to be taught of drawing a bow
and shooting, of fighting close at hand being armed at all pieces,
of discharging bullets with a sling, or of sitting and riding an
horse ; but forsooth to lead and conduct an army there was none
at all: as who would say that feat were a thing not learned,
but coming by chance, I know not how. And yet I must needs
say, more sottish and foolish were he who should hold and
affirm that prudence only could not be taught, without which
no other arts and sciences be worth ought, or avail any whit.
That this is true, and that she is alone the guide which leadeth
and guideth all other sciences, arts, and virtues, giving them
every one their due place and honour, and making them profit-
able to mankind, a man may know by this, if there were nothing
else, that there would be no grace at a feast, though the meat
were never so well dressed and served up by skilful cooks,
though there were proper esquires or shewers to set the dishes
upon the board, carvers, tasters, skinkers, and other servitors
and waiters enough, unless there be some good order observed
among the said ministers, to place and dispose everything as it
ought.

HOW A MAN MAY DISCERN A FLATTERER
FROM A FRIEND

THE SUMMARY

[The traveller hath great occasion and cause to rejoice, if in his
journey he go with a good companion, who by his pleasant and
profitable discourses may make him forget the tedious difficulty of
the way: even so in this life, happy is the man who can find and
meet with those to bear him company, by whom he may both easily
pass through the occurrent dangers that are presented unto him,
and also advance forward cheerfully unto virtue. In which regjird
our author, Plutarch, having discoursed as touching the nouriture,
education, and instruction of youth, as also of vice and virtue in
general, by good order and in great reason, sheweth in this treatise
what sort of people we ought carefully to avoid, and with whom
to join and be acquainted. And as he was a man well experienced
and practised in the affairs of this world, he affirmeth and proveth
by very sound and firm reasons, that there is nothing whereof we
are to be more wary and heedful than false friendship, which he
calleth flattery. Moreover, this being a matter of so great im-
portance, as every wise man may well think and perceive, he
draweth out this present discourse in length: and for that his pur-
pose is to instruct us in those means whereby we may be able to
distinguish between a flatterer and a true friend, he sheweth in the
first place, that the only principal remedy to stop up the entry
against all flatterers is to know ourselves well : lor otherwise we shall
have such array and ornaments hanged upon us, that we shall not
easily perceive and discern who we are. And contrariwise, it
happeneth oftentimes that we esteem them to be our perfect friends,
so skilful axe they in counterfeiting; and withal, when they find us
disposed to entertain such company, our own indiscretion depriveth
us of that true insight and view which our soul ought to have in
discerning a false friend from a true. Being willing, therefore, to
aid and help us in this point, he describeth a crafty and wily flatterer,
he discovereth his cunning casts, and depainteth him in his colours,
shewing the very draught and lineaments which may direct us to
the knowledge of him, to wit, that he doth conform and frame
himself to the humour and nature of those whose company he
haunteth; how he is unconstant and mutable, changing and turning
into many and sundry fashions without any right and sincere
affection, applying himself all the while to everything else but virtue,
willing to be reputed always more lewd and vicious than those whom
he flattereth: without regard of doing them good any way, or
seeking their profit, he only aimeth at this, to please them and follow

36

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 37

their vein in all things by custom and use, bringing him that will
give ear unto his words, to this pass, that he shall think vice to
be virtue: working covertly and underhand for to deceive more
cleanly, transforming virtue into vice, and making it nothing strange
and coy to blame himself, for to do the more mischief afterwards
to another : then he flattereth most when he maketh no semblance
or shew at all that he mindeth any such thing, and exalteth up to
the sky those that be most vicious and worst of all others, so they
will give him entertainment. Likewise, for that flatterers shew
themselves otherwhiles very forward and bold to speak their minds
and to find fault, which is one of the best and surest marks of true
friendship, he treateth consequently of this liberty and freedom of
speech, and how a man may know whether there be any flattery
therein or no. He declareth, therefore, how flatterers use this
frank reprehension in vain and frivolous things, and never in those
sins and gross faults which are indeed blameworthy: so that this
manner of reprehension is a kind of soothing them up and lulling
men asleep in their notorious vices : or else they charge them with
faults clean contrary.

Now after he hath shewed how a man should take heed and
beware of them, he discourseth of those services which may make
flatterers, and wherein the same differ from the offices and duties of
friends, and in pursuing and prosecuting this antithesis, he proveth
that a flatterer is prest and ready to do us pleasure in shameful
matters, whereas a friend sheweth his good will in those that be
honest: also that a flatterer is envious, and so is not a friend. And
for that our nature is proud and blind withal, having need of good
friends to guide and direct it, he describeth with what manner of
eye and ear we ought to see and hear those that procure our good,
albeit they may seem to carry with them a kind of severity. Mean-
while he exhorteth friends so to temper and qualify their liberty
in reprehension that all impudency and importunate rigour be far
from it. But forasmuch as this is (as it were) the principal thing in
amity, he sheweth that first we must cut away self-love in all
our reprehensions; and secondly all injurious, bitter and biting
speeches: then he adjoineth, moreover, in what seasons, and upon
what occurrences, a man ought to reprove and say his mind frankly:
and with what dexterity he is to proceed: that is to say, that
sometimes, yea, and more often, he ought to rebuke his friend apart,
or under the person of another: wherein he is to look unto this,
that he eschew all vainglory, and season his reprehensions with
some praise among, to make them more acceptable and better taken.
Consequently, he teacheth us how we must receive the advertise-
ments, admonitions, and reprehensions of a true friend: and
returning to the very point, indeed, of amity and friendship, he
sheweth what mean a man should keep for to avert and turn away
the neighbour vice, and to urge our friends forward to their devoir :
adding, moreover, that all remonstrance and admonition ought to
be tempered with niildness and lenity: wherein he concludeth this
whole treatise, which I assure you is to be well read and marked in
these days of all persons, but those especially who are advanced
above others in worldly wealth or honourable place.]

38 Plutarch's Morals

Plato writeth (0 Antiochus Philopappus) that all men do
willingly pardon him who professeth that he loveth himself
best : Howbeit thereby (quoth he) is engendered in us this fault
and inconvenience among many others the greatest: that by
this means no man can be a just judge of himself, but partial and
favourable. For the lover is ordinarily blinded in the thing
that he loveth, unless he have been taught, yea, and accustomed
long before, to affect and esteem things honest above those that
be his own properly, or inbred and familiar to him. This is it
that giveth unto a flatterer that large field, under pretence of
friendship, where he hath a fort (as it were) commodiously
seated, and with the vantage to assail and endamage us, and
that is self-love : whereby every man being the first and greatest
flatterer of himself, he can be very well content to admit a
stranger to come near and flatter him, namely, when he thinketh
and is well willing withal to witness with him and to confirm
that good self-conceit and opinion of his own. For even he
who is justly reproached to be a lover of flatterers, loveth himself
notwithstanding exceeding well: and for that good affection that
he hath, is both very willing, yea, and fully persuaded also, that
all good things are in himself: and the desire whereof is not
simply bad and unlawful: but the persuasion is that it is
dangerous and slippery, having need to be restrained with great
heed and carefulness.

Now if truth be an heavenly thing, and the very source
yielding all good things (as Plato saith), as well to the gods
as to men: we ought thus to judge that a flatterer is an enemy
to the gods, and principally to Apollo : For opposite he is always
and contrary to this precept of his, Know thyself : causing a
man to be abused and deceived by his own self, yea and to be
ignorant of the good and evil things that be in him ; in making
the good gifts which are in him to be defective and unperfect:
but the evil parts incorrigible and such as cannot be reformed.
Now if it were so, that flattery (as the most part of other vices)
touched either only or especially base, mean, and abject persons,
it were perhaps neither so hurtful nor so hard to be avoided as
it is. But lUce as worms breed most of all and soonest in
frim, tender and sweet wood: even so, for the most part, the
generous and gentle natures, and those minds that are more
ingenuous, honest, amiable, and mild than others, are readiest
to receive and nourish the flatterer that hangeth upon him.

Moreover, as Simonides was wont to say, that the keeping of
an esquiry or stable of horses, followeth not the lamp or oil

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 59

cruet, but the rich cornfields : that is, it is not for poor men to
entertain great horses, but those rather who are landed men
and with their revenues able to maintain them: Even so, we
see it is ordinary that flattery keepeth not company nor sorteth
with poor folk, or such persons as live obscurely and are of no
ability: but commonly it is the ruin and decay of great houses,
and a malady incident to mighty states; which oftentimes
undoeth and overthroweth whole monarchies, realms, and great
seignories. In which regard it is no small matter, nor a thing
that requireth little or no forecast and providence, to search
and consider the nature thereof: lest being so active and busy
as it is, and ready to meddle in every place (nothing so much),,
it do no hurt unto friendship, nor bring it into obloquy and
discredit. For these flatterers resemble lice for all the world:
And why? These vermin we see never haunt those that be
dead, but leave and forsake the corpse so soon as ever the blood
(whereof they were wont to feed) is extinct or deprived of vital
spirit: Semblably, a man shall never see flatterers so much as
approach unto such persons as are in decay, whose state is
cracked and credit waxeth cool; but look where there is the
glory of the world, where there is authority and power, thither
they flock, and there they grow: no sooner is there a change of
fortune but they sneak and slink away, and are no more seen.

But we ought not to attend so long and stay for this trial,
being unprofitable, or rather hurtful and not without some
danger: For it goeth very hard with a man, if at the very
instant and not before, even when he hath most need of friend-
ship, to peceive those to be no friends whom he took to be,
and namely, when he hath not with him at hand a good and
faithful friend, to exchange for him that is untrusty, disloyal
and counterfeit. For if a man did well, he should be provided
beforehand of an approved and tried friend, ere he have need
to employ him, as well as of current and lawful money; and
not then to make trial of him and find him faulty, when he is in
greatest necessity and standeth in most need : For we ought not
to make proof with our loss, and find him to be false to our cost
and detriment; but contrariwise to be skilful in the means of
smelling out a flatterer, that we receive no damage by him : For
otherwise, that might befall us which happeneth unto those
who for to know the force of deadly poisons, take the assay and
taste first themselves thereof: well may they indeed come to
the judgment thereof : but this skill is dearly bought, when they
are sure to die for it.

40 Plutarch's Morals

And like as we do not commend such; no more can we praise
and approve of those who measure friendship only by honesty
and profit: thinking withal^ that such as converse and company
with them pleasantly are straightways to be attainted as
flatterers^ no less than if they were taken in the very act of
flattery: For surely a friend should not be unpleasant and
unsavoury, without any seasoning (as it were) of delightsome
qualities : neither is friendship to be accounted venerable in this
respect, that it is austere or bitter; but even that very beauty
and gravity that it hath is sweet and desirable, and as the poet
saith:

About her always seated be
Delightsome love and graces three.

And not he only who is in calamity

Doth great content and comfort find
To see the face of trusty friend,

according as Euripides saith, but true amity addeth no less
grace, pleasure, and joy unto those that be in prosperity, than
it easeth them of sorrow and grief who are in adversity. Evenus
was wont to say that of all pleasant sauce, fire was the best and
most effectual: And even so God having mingled friendship
with this life of ours, hath made all things joyous, sweet,
pleasant and acceptable, where a friend is present and enjoyeth
his part. For otherwise a man cannot devise nor express how
and in what sort a flatterer could insinuate himself and creep
into favour, under the colour of pleasure, if he saw that friend-
ship in the own nature never admitted anything that was
pleasant and delectable. But like as false and counterfeit pieces
of gold, which will not abide the touch, represent only the lustre
and bright glittering of gold : So a flatterer resembling the sweet
and pleasant behaviour of a friend, sheweth himself always
jocund, merry and delightsome, without crossing at any time.
And therefore we ought not presently to suspect all them to
be flatterers who are given to praise others : For otherwhiles to
commend a man, so it be done in time and place convenient, is
a property no less befitting a friend than to blame and reprehend :
Nay, contrariwise, there is nothing so adverse and repugnant to
amity and society than testiness, thwarting, complaining, and
evermore fault-finding: whereas, if a man knoweth the goodwill
of his friend to be ever prest and ready to yield due praises, and
those in full measure to things well done, he will bear more
patiently and in better part another time his free reprehensions

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 41

and reproof for that which is done amiss: for that he is verily
persuaded of him that as he was wiUing enough to praise, so
he was as loth to dispraise, and therefore taketh all in good
worth.

A difficult matter then it is, will some one say, to discern a
flatterer from a friend, seeing there is no difference between
them, either in doing pleasure, or yielding praise: for otherwise,
we see oftentimes, that in many services, courtesies and kind-
nesses besides, a flatterer is more ready and forward than a
friend. True it is indeed we must needs say : a right hard matter
it is to know the one from the other; especially if we speak of a
right flatterer indeed, who is his own craftsmaster, and can skill
how to handle the matter artificially, and with great cunning
and dexterity: if (I say) we make no reckoning of them for
flatterers, as the common people do, who are these ordinary
smell- feasts, and as ready as flies to light in every dish: these
parasites (I say), whose tongue (as one said very well) will be
walking so soon as men have washed their hands and be ready
to sit down to meat, cogging and soothing up their good masters
at every word, who have no honesty at all in them, and whose
scurrility, profane and irreligious impurity a man shall soon
find with one dish of meat and cup of wine. For surely there
was no great need to detect and convince the flattery of Melan-
thius, the parasite and jester of Alexander Pheraeus the Tyrant,
who being asked upon a time how Alexander his good lord and
master was murdered. Marry, with a thrust (quoth he) of a
sword, which went in at his side, and ran as far as into my
belly: neither of such as a man shall never see to fail, but where
there is a good house and plentiful table kept, they will be sure
to gather round about it, in such sort as there is no fire nor iron
grates, or brass gates, can keep them back, but they will be
ready to put their foot under the board : no, nor of those women
who in times past were called in Cypres, colacides, i.e. flatteresses ;
but after they were come to Syria, men named them climacides,
as one would say, ladderesses, for that they used to lie along, and
to make their backs stepping-stools or ladders as it were for
queens and great men's wives to get upon when they would
mount into their coaches.

What kind of flatterer then is it so hard and yet needful to
beware of? Forsooth, even of him who seemeth none such,
and professeth nothing less than to flatter: whom a man shall
never find about the kitchen where the good meat is dressed,
nor take measuring of shadows to know how the day goes, and

42 Plutarch's Morals

when it is dinner or supper time: nor yet see drunken and
lying along the ground untowardly, and full like a beast: But for
the most part sober he is enough; he loveth to be a curious
polypragmon; he will have an oar in every boat, and thinks he
is to intermeddle in all matters; he hath a mind to be privy
and party in all deep secrets; and in one word, he carrieth
himself like a grave tragedian, and not as a comical and satirical
player, and under that visor and habit he counterfeiteth a
friend. For according to the saying of Plato, it is the greatest
and most extreme injustice for a man to make semblance of
being just when he is not: even so we are to think that flattery
of all others to be most dangerous, which is covert and not
apert or professed; which is serious (I say) and not practised
by way of jest and sport.

And verily such glozing and flattery as this causeth men
oftentimes to mistrust true friendship indeed, and doth derogate
much from the credit thereof: for that in many things it jumpeth
so even therewith, unless a man take very good heed and look
narrowly into it. True it is, that Gobrias being run into a
•dark and secret room, together with one of the usurping tyrants
of Persia, called Magi, whom he pursued hard, and at handy
gripes struggling, grappling, and wrestling close together, cried
out unto Darius coming into the place with a naked sword, and
doubting to thrust at the usurper, for fear he should run Gobrias
through also. Thrust hardly and spare not (quoth he), though
you dispatch us both at once.

But we who in no wise can allow of that common saying. Let
a friend perish, so he take an enemy with him: but are desirous
to pluck and part a flatterer from a friend, with whom he is
•coupled and interlaced by means of so many resemblances:
we (I say) have great cause to fear and beware that we do not
<;ast and reject from us the good with the bad: or least in
pardoning and accepting that which is agreeable and familiar
unto us, we fall upon that which is hurtful and dangerous. For
like as among wild seeds of another kind, those that being of
the same form, fashion, and bigness with the grains of wheat
are intermingled therewith, a man shall hardly try out from the
rest, for that they will not pass through the holes of the sieve,
ruddle or try, if they be narrow; and in case they be large and
wide, out goeth the good corn together with them; even so it
is passing hard to separate flattery from friendship, being so
intermeddled therewith in all accidents, motions, affairs, deal-
ings, employment, and conversation as it is. For considering

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 43

that a flatterer seeth well enough that there is nothing in the
world so pleasurable as friendship, nor yieldeth more content-
ment unto man than it doth: He windeth himself into favour
by means of pleasure, and wholly is employed to procure mirth
and delight. Also for that both grace and commodity doth
always accompany amity; in which regard the common proverb
saith, that a friend is more necessary than either fire or water.
Therefore a flatterer is ready to put himself forward, and offereth
his service with all double diligence, striving in all occasions
and businesses to be ever prompt and officious. And because
the principal thing that linketh and bindeth friendship sure at
the beginning, is the conformity and likeness of manners, studies,
endeavours, and inclinations, and in one word, seeing that to
be like affected, and to shew pleasure or displeasure in the same
things, is the chief matter that knitteth amity and both com-
bineth, and also keepeth men together, by a certain mutual
correspondence in natural affections: the flatterer knowing so
much, composeth his nature (as it were) some unformed matter
ready to receive all sorts of impressions, studying to frame and
accommodate himself wholly to all those things that he taketh
in hand; yea, and to resemble those persons just by way of
imitation whom he meaneth to set upon and deceive, as being
supple, soft, and pliable, to represent them lively in every point,
so as a man may say of him after this manner:

Achilles' son think you he is?
Nay, even Achilles himself iwis.

But the craftiest cast of all other that he hath is this, that
seeing (as he doth) liberty of speech (both in truth and also
according to the opinion and speech of the whole world) to be the
proper voice of friendship (as a man would say) of some living
creature; insomuch, as where there is not this freedom of
speaking frankly, there is no true friendship nor generosity
indeed. In this point also he will not seem to come short, nor
leave it behind for want of imitation; but after the fashion of
fine and excellent cooks, who use to serve up tart, bitter and
sharp sauces together with sweet and pleasant meats, for to
divert and take away the satiety and fulness which soon fol-
loweth them, these flatterers also use a certain kind of plain
and free speech ; howbeit, neither sincere and natural is it, nor
profitable, but (as we commonly say) from teeth outward, or
(as it were) beckoning and winking slightly with the eye under
the brows, not touching the quick, but tickling aloft only, to
no purpose.

44 '^nl : Plutarch's Morals

Well, in these respects above specified, hardly and with much
ado is a flatterer discovered, and taken in the manner; much
like unto those beasts who by nature have this property, to
change their colour, and in hue to resemble that bodily matter
or place whereon they settle, and which they touch. Seeing
then it is so, that he is so apt to deceive folk, and lieth hidden
under the likeness of a friend ; our part it is, by unfolding the
differences that are so hidden, to turn him out of his masking
habit, and being despoiled of those colours and habiliments
that he borroweth of others, for want of his own (as Plato saith),
to lay him naked and open to the eye: let us therefore enter into
this discourse, and fetch it from the very first beginning.

We have already said that the original of friendship among
men (for the most part) is our conformity of nature and inclina-
tion, embracing the same customs and manners, loving the
same exercises, affecting the same studies, and delighting in the
same actions and employments: concerning which these verses
well and fitly run :

Old folk love best with aged folk to talk,
And with their feers young children to disport :
Women once met, do let their tongues to walk.
With sick likewise, sick persons best do sort:
The wretched man his miseries doth lament
With those whose state like fortunes do torment.

The flatterer, then, being well aware that it is a thing naturally
inbred in us, to delight in those that are like ourselves, to con-
verse with them, and to use and love them above all others,
endeavoureth first and foremost to draw and approach, yea, and
to lodge near unto him whom he meaneth to enveigle and com-
pass, even as if he went about in some great pasture to make
toward one beast, whom he purposeth to tame and bring to
hand, by little and little joining close unto him, as it were, to
be concorporated in the same studies and exercises, in the same
affections, employments and course of life: and this he doth so
long, until the party whom he layeth for, have given him some
advantage to take hold by, as suffering himself gently to be
touched, clawed, handled, and stroked; during which time, he
letteth slip no opportunity to blame those persons, to reprove
those things and courses of life which he perceiveth the other
to hate: contrariwise, to praise and approve all that which he
knoweth him to take delight in : and this he doeth not after an
ordinary manner and in a mean, but excessively and beyond
all measure, with a kind of admiration and wonder; confirming

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 45

this love or hatred of his to a thing, not as if he had received these
impressions from some sudden passion, but upon a staid and
settled judgment.

Which being so : how and by what different marks shall he be
known and convinced that he is not the like or the same in deed,
but only a counterfeit of the like and of the same ? First, a man
must consider well whether there be an uniform equality in all
his intentions and actions or no? whether he continue and
persist still, taking pleasure in the same things, and praising the
same at all times? whether he compose and direct his life
according to one and the same mould and pattern? like as it
becometh a man who is an ingenuous lover of that friendship
and conversation which is ever after one manner, and always
like itself: for such a one indeed is a true friend. But a flatterer
contrariwise is one who hath no one permanent seat in his
manners and behaviour, nor hath made choice of any life for
his own content, but only to please another, as framing and
applying his actions wholly to the humour of another, is never
simple, uniform, nor like himself, but variable and changing
always from one form to another, much like as water which is
poured out of one vessel into another, even as it runneth forth,
taketh the form and fashion of that vessel which receiveth it.
And herein he is clean contrary to the ape; for the ape as it
should seem, thinking to counterfeit a man, by turning, hopping,
and dancing as he doth, is quickly caught: but the flatterer,
whiles he doth imitate and counterfeit others, doth entice and
draw them, as it were, with a pipe or call, into his net, and
so beguileth them. And this he doeth not always after one
manner; for with one he danceth and singeth; with another
he will seem to wrestle, or otherwise to exercise the body in
feats of activity: if he chance to meet with a man that loveth
to hunt, and to keep hounds, him he will follow hard at heels,
setting out a throat as loud in a manner as Hippolytus in the
tragedy Phcedra, crying.

So ho, this is my joy and only good,

With cry to lure, with tooting horn to wind.

By leave of gods to bring into the wood

My hounds, to rouse and chase the dapple hind.

And yet hath he nothing to do at all with the wild beasts of the
forest, but it is the hunter himself whom he layeth for to take
within his net and toil. And say that he light upon a young
man that is a student and given to learning, then you shall see
him also as deep poring upon his book, and always in his study;

46

Plutarch's Morals

you shall have him let his beard grow down to his foot, like
a grave philosopher: who but he then, in his side threadbare
student's cloak, after the Greek fashion, as if he had no care of
himself, nor joy of anything else in the world : not a word then
in mouth, but of the numbers, orthangles and triangles of Plato.
If peradventure there fall into his hands an idle do-nothing,
who is rich withal, and a good fellow, one that loveth to eat
and drink and make good cheer,

That wily fox Ulysses though
His ragged garments will off do,

ofif goes then his bare and overworn studying gown, his beard he
causeth to be cut and shorn as near as a new mown field in
harvest, when all the com is gone : no talk then but of flagons,
bottles, pots, and cooling pans to keep the wine cold: nothing
now but merry conceits to move laughter in every walking
place and gallery of pleasure: Now he letteth fly frumps and
scoffs against scholars and such as study philosophy.

Thus by report it fell out upon a time at Syracuse: For when
Plato thither arrived, and Denys all on a sudden was set upon
a furious fit of love to philosophy, his palace and whole court
was full of dust and sand, by reason of the great recourse thither
of students in geometry, who did nothing but draw figures
therein. But no sooner had Plato incurred his displeasure and
was out of favour: no sooner had Denys the Tyrant bidden
philosophy farewell, and given himself again to belly-cheer, to
wine, vanities, wantonness, and all looseness of life: but all
at once it seemed the whole court was transformed likewise (as
it were by the sorcery and enchantment of Circes) into hatred
and detestation of good letters; so as they forgat all goodness,
and betook themselves to folly and sottishness.

To this purpose it were not amiss for to allege as testimonies
the fashions and acts of some notorious flatterers, such, I mean,
as have governed commonwealths and affected popularity.
Among whom the greatest of all other was Alcibiades, who all the
while he was at Athens used to scoff, and had a good grace in
merry conceits and pleasant jests: he kept great horses, and
lived in jollity, most gallantly, with the love and favour of all
men: when he sojourned in Sparta, he went always shaven to
the bare skin, in an overworn cloak, or else the same very coarse,
and never washed his body but in cold water. Afterwards,
being in Thrace, he became a soldier, and would carouse and
drink lustily with the best. He came no sooner to Tissaphemes

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 47

in Asia, but he gave himself to voluptuousness and pleasure,
to riot, wantonness, and superfluous delights: Thus throughout
the whole course of his life he won the love of all men, by
framing himself to their humours and fashions wheresoever he
came. Such were not Epaminondas and Agesilaus: For albeit
they conversed with many sorts of people, travelled divers cities,
and saw sundry fashions and manners of strange nations; yet
they never changed their behaviour, they were the same men
still, retaining evermore a decent port which became them, in
their apparel, speech, diet, and their whole carriage and de-
meanour. Plato likewise was no changeling, but the same man
at Syracuse that he was in the academy or college at Athens:
and look, what his carriage was before Dion, the same it was
and no other in Denys his court.

But that man may very easily find out the variable changes
of a flatterer, as of the fish called the pourcuttle, who will but
strain a little and take the pains to play the dissembler himself,
making shew as if he likewise were transformed into divers and
sundr,y fashions; namely in misliking the course of his former
life, and suddenly seeming to embrace those things which he
rejected before, whether it be in diet, action or speech: For then
he shall soon see the flatterer also to be inconstant, and not a
man of himself, taking love or hatred to this or that, joying or
grieving at a thing, upon any affection of his own that leadeth
him thereto, for that he receiveth always as a mirror the images
of the passions, motions and lives of other men.

If you chance to blame one of your friends before him, what
will he say by and by? Ah well, you have found him out I see
now at last, though it were long first : Iwis I liked him not, a
great while ago: Contrariwise, if your mind alter, so that you
happen to fall a praising of him again: Very well done, will he
say, and bind it with an oath, I con you thank for that: I am
very glad for the man's sake, and I believe no less of him. Do
you break with him about the alteration of your life, and bear
him in hand that you mean to take another course, as for
example, to give over state affairs, to betake yourself to a more
private and quiet life. Yea, marry (quoth he), and then you
do well, it is more than high time so to do: For long since we
should have been disburdened of these troubles so full of envy
and peril. Make him believe once that you will change your
copy, and that you are about to shake off this idle life, and to
betake yourself unto the commonweal, both to rule and also
to speak in public place: you shall have him to soothe you

48

Plutarch's Morals

up and second your song, with these and such-like responds:
A brave mind (believe me) and beseeming a man of your worth
and good parts: For to say a truth, this idle and private life,
though it be pleasant, and have ease enough, yet it is but base,
abject, and dishonourable; when you find him there once,
muffle his nose immediately with this posy:

Good sir, methinks you soon do turn your style,
You seem much chang'd from him you were erewhile.

I have no need of such a friend, that will alter as I do, and
follow me every way (for my shadow can do that much better);
I had rather have one that with me will follow the truth, and
judge according to it and not otherwise. Avaunt, therefore, I
will have nought to do with thee. Thus you see one way to
discover a flatterer.

A second difference we ought to observe in his imitations and
resemblances, for a true friend doth not imitate all that he seeth
him whom he loveth to do; neither is he forward in praising
everything, but that only which is best: For according to
Sophocles :

In love he would his fellow be,
But not in hate and enmity.

And verily one friend is ready and willing to assist another in
well-doing and in honest life, and never will yield to be com-
panion in lewdness, or help him to commit any wicked and
heinous fact; unless peradventure through the ordinary con-
versation, and continual acquaintance together, he be tainted
with infection of some ill quality and vicious condition, even
against his will and ere he be well aware: much like as they
who by contagion catch rheumatic and bleared eyes : or as the
familiar friends and scholars (by report) of Plato did imitate
him in stooping forward : and those of Aristotle in his stammer-
ing and mafflng speech; and the courtiers of Alexander the
Great in bending of his neck and rough voice when he spake.
For even so, some there be who receive impression of their
manners and conditions at unawares and against their wills.
But contrariwise, it fareth with a flatterer even as with the
chameleon; for as he can take upon him any colour save only
white; semblably, a flatterer cannot possibly frame himself to
anything that good is and of importance: but there is no
naughtiness and badness in the world which he will not quickly
imitate. And well I may compare such fellows to ill painters,
who when through insufficiency in their art they be not able to

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 49

draw to the life, the beauty and favour of a good face, will be
sure yet to express the rivels, warts, moles, freckles, scars and
such-like deformities. For even so a flatterer can imitate very
passing well, incontinency, foolish superstition, hastiness and
choler, bitterness towards household servants, distrust and
diffidence in friends and kinsfolk, yea, and treachery against
them: for that by nature he is always inclined to the worse;
and besides, so far he would be thought from blaming vice,^that
he undertaketh to imitate the same. For those that seek for
amendment of life and reformation of manners are ever sus-
pected : such (I say) as shew themselves displeased and offended
at the faults and misdemeanours of their friends. And this was
it that made Dion odious to Denys the Tyrant, Samius to Philip,
and Cleomenes to Ptolemaeus, and in the end was their ruin and
overthrow.

The flatterer who desireth to be both pleasant and faithful
at once, or at leastwise so to be reputed, for excessive love and
friendship that he pretendeth, will not seem to be offended with
his friend for any lewd parts, but in all things would be thought
to carry the same affection, and to be in manner of the same
nature and incorporate into him: whereupon it cometh to pass
also that even in casual things and the occurrences of this life,
which happen without our will and counsel, he will needs have a
part, there is no remedy. This, if he be disposed to flatter sick
persons, he will make as though he were sick also of the same
disease for company: and if he have to do with such as be dim-
sighted or hard of hearing, he will be thought neither to see nor
hear well for fellowship. Thus the flatterers about Denys the
Tyrant, when he had an impediment in his eyes that he could
not see clearly, feigned that themselves likewise were half blind,
and to make it good, hit one upon another at the board, and
overthrew the dishes upon the table as they sate at supper.

Others there be that proceed farther than so, and because
they would appear more touched with a fellow-feeling of
affections, will enter as far as to the very inward secrets that
are not to be revealed. Por if they can perceive that they whom
they do flatter be not fortunate in their marriage, or that they
are grown into distrust, jealousy, and sinister opinion, either of
their own children or their near kinsfolk and famihars; they
spare not themselves but begin to complain, and that with grief
of heart and sorrow of their own wives and children, of their
kindred and friends, laying abroad some criminous matters,
which were better (iwis) to be concealed and smothered, than

50 Plutarch's Morals

uttered and revealed. And this resemblance and likeness that
they take upon themselves causeth them to seem more affec-
tionate and fuller of compassion. The other then, thus flattered,
thinking that by this means they have received from them a
sufficient pawn and assurance of their fidelity, stick not to let
fall from their mouth some matter of secrecy also; and when
they have once committed it unto them, then they are ever
aftef bound to use them, yea, and be afraid to mistrust them
in anything. I myself knew one who seemed to put away his
own wedded wife because his friend whom he flattered had
divorced his before: and when he had so done, was known to go
secretly unto her, and messengers there were who passed to and
fro between them underhand: which the divorced wife of the
other perceived and found out well enough. Certes, little knew
he what a flatterer was, and he had no experience of him who
thought these iambic verses to express the sea-crab better
than him: rn ^'i •>■

A beast whose body and belly are meet.

The eye doth serve each way to see :
With teeth it creeps, they stand for feet,

Aread now what creature this may be?

Por this is the very portraiture and image of a parasite, who
keeps about the frying-pan (as Eupolis saith) of his good friends,
^nd waiteth where the cloth is laid.

But as touching these things, let us refer them to their proper
place for to be discoursed more at large. Howbeit, for the
present let us not leave behind us one notable device and
cunning cast, that a flatterer hath in his imitations; to wit,
that if he do counterfeit some good quality that is in him whom
he doth flatter, yet he giveth him always the upper hand:
For among those that be true friends there is no emulation at
•all, no jealousy or envy between one and another; but whether
they be equal in well-doing or come behind, they take all in good
part and never grieve at the matter. But the flatterer, bearing
well in mind that he in every place is to play the second part,
yieldeth always in his imitation the equality from himself, and
doth affect to counterfeit another so as he will be the inferior,
giving the superiority unto the other in all things but those
which are naught, for therein he challengeth to himself the
victory over his friend. If he be somewhat malcontent and
hard to be pleased, then will the flatterer profess himself to be
stark melancholic: if his friend be somewhat too religious or
.-superstitious, then will he make semblance as though he were

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 5 1

rapt and transported altogether with the fear of the gods: If
the other be amorous, he will be in love furious : when the other
saith I laughed a good ; but I (will he say again) laughed until I
was well near dead. But in good things it is clean contrary, for
when he speaketh of good footmanship he will say, I run swiftly
indeed; but you fly away. Again, I sit a horse and ride reason-
able well ; but what is that to this hippo-centaur here for good
horsemanship? Also, I have a pretty gift in poetry (I must
needs say) and am not the worst versifier in the world; but

To thunder verses I have no skill.
To Jupiter there leave that I will :

In these and such-like speeches two things at once he doth : for
first he seemeth to approve the enterprise of the other as singular
good, because he doth imitate him; and secondly, he sheweth
that his sufficiency therein is incomparable and not to be
matched, in that he confesseth himself to come short of him.
And thus much of the different marks between a flatterer and
a friend as touching their resemblances.

Now, forasmuch as there is a community of delectation and
pleasure in them both (as I have said before), for that an honest
man taketh no less joy and comfort in his friends than a lewd
person in flatterers, let us consider likewise the distinction
between them in this behalf. The only way to distinguish them
asunder in this point is to mark the drift and end of the delecta-
tion, both in the one and the other; which a man may see more
clearly by this example: There is in a sweet ointment an
odoriferous smell; so is there also in an antidote or medicine;
but herein lieth the difference, for that in the ointment above-
said there is a reference to pleasure only, and to nothing else;
but in the antidote, beside the delectation that the odour
yieldeth, there is a respect also of some medicinable virtue,
lamely, either to purge and cleanse the body, or to heat and
chafe it, or else to incarnate and make new flesh to come.

Again, painters do grind and mix fresh colours and lively
:inctures; so the apothecary hath drugs and medicines of a
Dcautiful and pleasant colour to the eye, that it would do a
nan good to look upon them. But wherein is the difference?
's there any man so gross that conceiveth not readily that the
)dds lieth in the use or end for which both the one and the
)ther be ordained? Semblably the mutual offices and kind-
lesses that pass from friend to friend, beside the honesty and
)rofit that they have, bring with them also that which is pleasing

52 Plutarch's Morals

and delectable, as if some dainty and lively flowers grew there-
upon: For sometime friends use plays and pastimes one with
another: they invite one another, they eat and drink together:
yea, and otherwhiles (believe me) you shall have them make
themselves merry and laugh heartily, jesting, gauding, and
disporting one with another; all which serve as pleasant sauces
to season their other serious and honest affairs of great weight
and consequence. And to this purpose serve well these verses:

With pleasant discourses from one to another
They made themselves merry, being met together.

Also:

And nothing else disjoined our amity,

Nor parted our pleasures and mutual jollity.

But the whole work of a flatterer, and the only mark that he
shooteth at, is always to devise, prepare, and confect, as it were,
some play or sport, some action and speech, with pleasure and to
do pleasure. And to knit up all briefly in one word, he is of
opinion that he ought to do all for to be pleasant: whereas the
true friend, doing always that which his duty requireth, many
times pleaseth, and as often again he is displeasant: not that
his intention is to displease at any time ; howbeit, if he see it
expedient and better so to do, he will not stick to be a little
harsh and unpleasant. For like as a physician, when need
requireth, putteth in some saffron or spikenard into his medicine:
yea and otherwhile permitteth his patient a delicate bath, or
liberal and dainty diet to his full contentment: but sometimes
for it again, leaving out all sweet odours, casteth in castoreum,

Or poUum which strong scent doth yield.
And stinks most of all herbs in field,

or else he bruiseth and stampeth some ellebore, and forceth
his patient to drink of that potion: not proposing either in the
former medicine pleasure, nor in the latter displeasure for the
end : but both by the one and the other training the sick person
under his hand to one and the same effect of his cure, to wit,
his good and the health of his body; even so it is with a true
friend: one while with praises and gracious words he extolleth
and cheereth up his friend, inciting him thereby always to that
which is good and honest, as he in Homer:

Dear heart. Sir Teucer, worthy son

Of Telamon that knight.
Come, prince and flower or valiant knights.

Shoot thus your arrow's flight.

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 53

And another:

How can I ever put out of mind
Heavenly Ulysses, a prince so kind?

Contrariwise, another while where there is need of chastisement
and correction, he will not spare but use sharp and biting words:
yea, and that free speech which carrieth with it an affection
careful to do good, and such as indeed beseemeth a tutor and
governor, much after this manner:

What, Menelaus! however that

From Jupiter you descend :
You play the fool, for folly such

I cannot you commend.

It falleth out so likewise, that sometime he addeth deeds to
words. And thus Mcnedemus shut the door against the son
of Asclepiades his friend, and would not deign once to salute
him, because he was a riotous youth, and lived dissolutely and
out of all order : by which means he was reclaimed from loose
life, and became an honest man. Arcesilaus in like manner
excluded Battus out of his school, and would not suffer him to
enter, because in a comedy that he composed, he had made one
verse against Cleanthes; but afterwards, Battus repenting of
that he had done, and making satisfaction unto Cleanthes, was
pardoned and received again into his favour. For a man may
offend his friend with intention to do him good; but he must
not proceed so far in displeasing him that thereby he break or
undo the knot of friendship: he ought (I say) to use a sharp
rebuke, as a physician doth some bitter or tart medicine, to save
or preserve the life of his patient.

And a good friend is to play the part of a musician, who to
bring his instrument into tune and so to keep it, setteth up these
strings, and letteth down those: and so ought a friend to ex-
change profit with pleasure, and use one with another, as
occasion serveth, observing this rule, oftentimes to be pleasing
unto his friend, but always profitable: whereas the flatterer,
being used evermore to sing one note, and to play upon the
same string, that is to say, to please : and in all his words and
deeds to aim at nothing else but the contentment of him whom
he flattereth, cannot skill either in act to resist, or in speech to
reprove and offend him; but goeth on still in following his
humour, according always with him in one tune, and keeping
the same note just with him.

Now, as Xenophon writeth of King Agesilaus, that he was
well apaid to be commended of them who he knew would

54 Plutarch's Morals

also blame him if there were cause; so we are to think well of
friendship when it is pleasant, delightsome, and cheerful, if
otherwhiles also it can displease and cross again ; but to have in
suspicion the conversation and acquaintance of such as never
do or say anything but that which is pleasing, continually keeping
one course without change, never rubbing where the gall is,
nor touching the sore, without reproof and contradiction. We
ought (I say) to have ready always in remembrance the saying
of an ancient Laconian, who hearing King Charilaus so highly
praised and extolled; And how possibly (quoth he) can he be
good who is never sharp or severe unto the wicked? The
gadfly (as they say) which useth to plague bulls and oxen,
settleth about their ears, and so doth the tick deal by dogs:
after the same manner, flatterers take hold of ambitious men's
ears, and possess them with praises; and being once set fast
there, hardly are they to be removed and chased away.

And here most needful it is that our judgment be watchful
and observant, and do discern whether these praises be attributed
to the thing or the person; we shall perceive that the thing
itself is praised, if they commend men rather absent than in
place : also if they desire and affect that themselves which they
do so like and approve in others: again, if they praise not us
alone, but all others, for the semblable qualities: likewise, if
they neither say nor do one thing now, and another time the
contrary. But the principal thing of all other is this. If we
ourselves know in our own secret conscience that we neither
repent nor be ashamed of that for which they so commend us;
nor yet wish in our hearts that we had said or done the contrary:
for the inward judgment of our mind and soul bearing witness
against such praises, and not admitting thereof, is void of
affections and passions, whereby it neither can be touched nor
corrupted and surprised by a flatterer. Howbeit, I know not
how it Cometh about, that the most part of men cannot abide
nor receive the consolations which be ministered unto them in
their adversities, but rather take delight and comfort in those
that weep, lament and mourn with them: and yet the same
men having offended or being delinquent in any duty, if one
come and find fault or touch them to the quick therefore, do
strike and imprint into their hearts remorse and repentance,
they take him for no better than an accuser and enemy: con-
trariwise, let one highly commend and magnify that which
they have done ; him they salute and embrace, him they account
their well- wilier and friend indeed.

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 55

Now, whosoever they be that are ready to praise and extol
with applause and clapping of hands that which one hath done
or said, were it in earnest or in game; such (I say) are dangerous
and hurtful for the present only, and in those things which are
next hand: but those who with their praises pierce as far as
to the manners within, and with their flatteries proceed to
corrupt their inward natures and dispositions, I can liken unto
those slaves or household servants who rob their masters, not
only of that com which is in the heap and lieth in the gamers,
but also of the very seed ; for the inclination and towardness of
a man are the seed that bring forth all his actions, and the
habitude of conditions and manners are the very source and
head from whom runneth the course of our whole life, which they
pervert in giving to vices the names of virtues.

Thucydides in his story writeth: That during civil seditions
and wars men transferred the accustomed significations of words
unto other things, for to justify their deeds: for desperate
rashness, without all reason, was reputed valour, and called
love-friend: provident delay and temporising was taken for
decent cowardice: modesty and temperance was thought to
be a cloak of effeminate unmanliness: a prudent and wary
circumspection in all things was held for a general sloth and
idleness. According to which precedent we are to consider and
observe in flatterers how they term prodigality by the name of
liberality; cowardice is nothing with them but heedful wariness:
brain-sickness they entitle promptitude, quickness, and celerity:
base and mechanical niggardise they account temperate fm-
gality. Is there one full of love and given to be amorous ? him
they call good fellow, a boon-companion, a man of a kind and
good nature. See they one hasty, wrathful, and proud withal?
him they will have to be hardy, valiant and magnanimous:
contrariwise, one of a base mind and abject spirit they will
grace with the attribute of fellow-like, and full of humanity.
Much like to that which Plato hath written in one place: That
the amorous lover is a flatterer of those whom he loveth. For
if they be flat-nosed like a shoeing-hom, such they call lovely
and gracious: be they hawk-nosed like a griffin. Oh, that is a
kingly sight, say they: those that be black of colour are manly:
white of complexion be God's children. And as for the term
melichriis, that is, honey-coloured, it is always (verily) a flatter-
ing word , devised by a lover, to mitigate and diminish the
odiousness of a pale hue, which he seemeth by that sweet name
not to mislike, but to take in the best part. And verily, if he

56

Plutarch's Morals

that is foul and ill-favoured be borne in hand that he is fair and
beautiful, or one of small and low stature made believe that he
is goodly and tall; he neither continueth long in this his error,
neither is the damage that he sustaineth thereby grievous and
great, nor unrecoverable: but the praises which induce and
inure a man to believe that vice is virtue, insomuch that he is
nothing at all discontented in his sin and grieved therefore, but
rather taketh pleasure therein: those also which take away
from us all shame and abashment to commit faults; such were
they that brought the Sicihans to ruin, and gave them occasion
to beautify or colour the tyranny and cruelty of Denys and
Phalaris with the goodly names of justice and hatred of wicked-
ness: These were the overthrow of Egypt, in cloaking the
effeminate wantonness, the furious superstition, the yelling
noises after a fanatical manner of King Ptolemseus, together
with the marks that he carried of lilies and tabours in his body,
with the glorious names of devotion, religion, and the service
of the gods.

And this was it that at the same time went very near and
had like to have corrupted and spoiled for ever the manners
and fashions of the Romans, which before were so highly reputed,
to wit, naming the riotousness of Antony, his looseness, his
superfluous delights, his sumptuous shews and public feasts,
with their profusion and wasting of so much money, by smooth
and gentle terms of courtesies, and merriments full of humanity,
by which disguisements and pretexts his fault was mollified or
diminished in abusing so excessively the grandeur of his puis-
sance and fortune. And what was it else that made Ptolemaeus
to put on the mask or muzzle (as it were) of a piper, and to
hang about him pipes and flutes? What was it that caused
Nero to mount up the stage to act tragedies, with a vizor over
his face and buskins on his legs? was it not the praise of such
flatterers as these? And are not most of our kings being when
they sing small and fine, after a puling manner, saluted Apollos
for their music: and if they drink until they be drunk, honoured
with the names of Bacchus, the god of wine: and when they
seem a little to wrestle or try some feats of activity, styled
by and by with the glorious addition of Hercules, brought
(think you) to exceeding dishonour and shame by this gross
flattery, taking such pleasure as they do in these gallant
surnames.

And therefore we had most need to beware of a flatterer in
the praises which he giveth, which himself is not ignorant of,

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend ^j

but being careful and very subtle in avoiding all suspicion, if
hapl} he meet with one of these fine fools and delicate minions,
well set out in gay apparel : or some rustical thick-skin, carrying
on his back a good leather pilch; or (as they say) one that
feedeth grossly: such he will not spare, but abuse with broad
flattery, and make common laughing-stocks of them: Like as
Struthias, making a very ass of Bias, and riding him up and
down, yea, and insulting upon him for his sottishness with
praises that he would seem to hang upon him: Thou hast
(quoth he) drunk more than King Alexander the Great, and
with that, turning to Cyprius, laughed as hard as ever he could
till he was ready to sink again.

But if a flatterer chance to deal with them that be more civil
and elegant, and do perceive that they have a special eye unto
him in this point, namely, that they stand well upon their
guard in this place for fear lest they be surprised by him : then
he goes not to work directly in praising of them, but he keepeth
aloof, he fetcheth about many compasses a great way off at
first, afterwards by little and little he winneth some ground
and approacheth nearer and nearer, making no noise until he
can touch and handle them, much after the manner of those
that come about wild beasts, assaying how to bring them to
hand and make them tame and gentle. For one while he will
report to such a one the praises that some other give out of him :
imitating herein the rhetoricians who many times in their
orations speak in the third person, and after this manner he will
begin: I was not long since (quoth he) in the market-place,
where I had some talk with certain strangers and other ancient
personages of good worth, whom I was glad at the heart to hear
how they recounted all the good in the world of you, and spake
wonderfully in your commendation. Otherwhiles he will devise
and fetch out of his own fingers' ends some light imputations
against him, yet all forged and false, agreeable to his person and
condition, making semblance as if he had heard others what
they said of him, and very cunningly will he close with him,
and bear him in hand that he is come in all haste to know of
him, whether ever he said or did so as was reported of him:
.\nd if the other do deny it (as it is no other like but he will), there-
jpon he takes occasion to enter into the praise and commenda-
tion of the man in this wise : I marvel truly how that you should
abuse and speak ill of any of your familiars and friends, who
were never wont so much as to miscall or say otherwise than
well of your very enemies ? or how it possibly could be that you

58 Plutarch's Morals

should be ready to gape after other men's goods, who use to
be so Uberal and bountiful of your own ?

Other flatterers there be, who like as painters do set up their
colours and to give them more beautiful light and lustre unto
them, lay near unto them others that be more dark and shadowy:
so they, in blaming, reproving, reproaching, traducing and
deriding the contrary virtues to those vices which are in them
whom they mean to flatter, covertly and underhand do praise
and approve those faults and imperfections that they have, and
so in praising and allowing, do feed and cherish the same: As,
for example, if they be among prodigal ding-thrifts and wasters,
riotous persons, covetous misers, mischievous wretches, and
such as have raked and scraped goods together by hook and
crook, and by all indirect means they care not how: before them
they will speak basely of temperance and abstinence, calling it
rusticity: and as for those that live justly and with a good
conscience, contenting themselves with their estate, and therein
reposing sufficance, those they will nickname heartless and base-
minded folk, altogether insufficient to do or dare anything. If
it fall out that they converse and be in company with such as
be idle lusks and love to sit still at home and do nothing, for-
bearing to meddle with ordinary affairs abroad in the world:
they will not bash to find fault with policy and civil government,
calling the managing of state matters and commonweal a
thankless intermeddling in other men's affairs, with much
travail and no profit. And as for the mind and desire to be a
magistrate and to sit in place of authority, they will not let to
say it is vainglory and ambition, altogether fruitless. For to
flatter and claw an orator they will reprove in his presence a
philosopher. Among light huswives that be wantonly given,
they win the price, and are very well accepted, if they call honest
matrons and chaste dames (who content themselves with their
own husbands, and them love alone) rude and rustical women,
untaught, ill bred, unlovely and having no grace with them.

But herein is the very height of wickedness, that these
flatterers for advantage will not spare their own selves: For
like as wrestlers debase their own bodies and stoop down low
otherwhiles, for to overthrow their fellows that wrestle with
them, and to lay them along on the ground ; so in blaming and
finding many faults with themselves they wind in and creep
closely to the praise and admiration of others : I am (quoth one
of them) a very coward, and no better than a very slave at sea;
I can away with no labour and travail in the world ; I am all

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 59

in a heat of choler, and raging mad, if I hear that one hath given
me any bad terms ; marry, as for this man (meaning him whom
he flattereth), he casteth doubts at no peril and danger, all is one
with him, sea or land, he can endure all hardness, and he
counteth nothing painful, no hurt there is in him, a singular
man he is, and hath not his fellow, he is angry at nothing, he
beareth all with patience. But say he meet with one at a
venture, which standeth upon his own bottom, and hath some
great opinion of his own sufficiency for wit and understanding,
who hath a desire to be austere, and not to depend upon the
conceits of others, but resteth in his own judgment; and upon
a certain uprightness in himself, eftsoons hath these verses in
his mouth:

Sir Diomede, do not me praise

So much to more or less,
Nor out of measure me dispraise,

I love not such excess.

This flatterer, then, who is his own craftsmaster and hath
thoroughly learned his trade, goeth not the old way to work in
setting upon him, but he hath another engine and device in
store to assail such a grim sir withal. He will make an errand
to him for counsel in his own affairs, as being the man whom he
esteemeth to have more wit and wisdom than himself. There
be divers others (quoth he) with whom I have better acquaint-
ance and familiarity than with yourself: Howbeit, sir, I am
forced of necessity to make bold and to importune you a little :
For whither else should we Ingram men repair that have need of
advice? and to whom are we to have recourse in matters of
trust and secrecy? And then, after he hath heard once what
he will say, and it makes no matter what it be; he will take his
leave, saying that he hath received not counsel from a man,
but an oracle from some god. Now before he departeth, if
haply he perceive that he taketh upon him good skill and insight
in literature, he will present unto him some compositions of his
own penning, praying him withal to peruse them, yea, and to
correct the same. Mithridates, the king, affected and loved the
art of physic very well: by reason whereof some of his familiar
friends about him came and offered themselves to be cut and
cauterised by him : which was a mere flattery in deed and not in
word. For it seemed that they gave great testimony of his
skill, in that they put their lives into his hands:

Of subtile spirits, thus you may see,
^ That many forms and shapes there be. ' 'i

6fo bnt); Plutarch's Morals

But this kind of dissimuled praises, requiring greater and
more wary circumspection to be taken heed of, if a man would
detect and convince, he ought of purpose, when he is tempted
and assailed with such flattery, to obtrude and propose unto
the flatterer absurd counsel, if he seem to demand and ask it:
advertisements also and precepts of the same kind, yea, and
corrections without all sense and to no purpose, when he shall
offer his labours to be read and perused: In so doing, if he
perceive the party suspected to be a flatterer, doth not gainsay
nor contradict anything, but alloweth of all and receiveth the
same, yea, and more than that, when he shall to every point
cry out and say, Oh, well said and sufficiently: 0 excellent wit:
be sure then he is caught in a trap : then I say it will be found
plainly according to the common byword.

That when he did a watchword crave.
Some other thing he sought to have:
Or as we say (in proverb old),
Draff was his errand, but drink he would ;

that is to say, he waited for some occasion and opportunity by
praising to puff him up with vanity and overweaning of himself.
Moreover, like as some have defined painting to be a mute poesy;
even so praising is a kind of silent and secret flattery. Hunters
(we see), then, soonest deceive the poor beasts, when they seem
to do nothing less than to hunt, making semblance as though they
either travelled like wayfaring men, or tended their flocks, or
else tilled the ground. Semblably flatterers touch those whom
they flatter nearest and enter to the very quick by praising,
when they make no shew thereof, but seem to do nothing less
than praise. For he that giveth the chair and seat to another
coming in place, or as he is making an oration either in public
place before the people or in council house to the senate,
breaketh off his own speech, and yieldeth unto him his room,
giving him leave to speak or to opine, and remaineth silent him-
self: by this his silence sheweth that he doth repute the other
a better man and of more sufficiency for wisdom and knowledge
than himself, much more than if he should pronounce and ring
it out aloud to the whole audience.

And hereupon it is that this sort of people who make profession
of flattery, take up ordinarily the first and highest seats, as well
at sermons and public orations whither men flock to hear, as at
the theatres and shew places, not that they think themselves
worthy of such places, but because they may rise and make
room for better and richer persons as they come, and thereby

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 6i

flatter them kindly. This we see also, that in solemn assemblies
and great meetings or auditories they are by their good wills the
first that put themselves forth and make offer to begin speech;
but it is for nothing else but that afterward they would seem to
quit the place and give assent to their betters, soon retracting
their own opinions, when they hear a mighty man, a rich or
noble personage in authority to contradict and say the contrary.
And here we ought most of all to be circumspect and wary, that
we may evict them of this, that all this courting, this giving
place, this yielding of the victory and reverence made unto
others, is not for any more sufficiency that they acknowledge
in them, for their knowledge, experience and virtues; nor yet
for their worthiness in regard of elder age, but only for their
wealth, riches, credit, and reputation in the world.

Megabysus,^ a great lord belonging to the king's court of

Persia, came upon a time to visit Apelles the painter: and

sitting by him in his shop to see him work, began of his own

accord to discourse I wot not what, of lines, shadows and other

matters belonging to his art: Apelles hearing him, could not

hold, but said unto him; See you not, sir, these little prentice

boys here that grind ochre and other colours? So long as you

sate still and said never a word, they advised you well and their

eye was never off, wondering to see your rich purple robes, your

chains and jewels of gold, no sooner began you to speak but they

fell to teighing, and now they laugh you to scorn, talking thus

is you do of those things which you never learned. And Solon,

being demanded once by Croesus, King of Lydia, what men he

aad seen whom he reputed most happy in this world? named

anto him one Tellus, none of the great men of Athens, but a

^ood plain and mean citizen, Cleobis also and Biton : and these

le said were of all others most fortunate. But these flatterers

ffiW affirm that kings and princes, rich men and rulers, are not

)nly blessed, happy, and fortunate; but also excel all others in

A^isdom, knowledge and virtue. There is not one of them that

:an endure so much as to hear the Stoics, who hold that the

;age and wise man (such a one as they depaint unto us) ought

ill at once to be called rich, fair, noble, yea, and a king : whereas

)ur flatterers will have the rich man only, whom they are dis-

x)sed to flatter, to be an orator and a poet; yea, and if he will

limself, a painter, a good piper, passing light of foot and strong

)f limbs ; insomuch, as whosoever wrestleth with him shall be sure

o take the foil and lie along ; and whomsoever he runneth with

* Pliny reporteth this of King Alexander, and not of Megabysus.

62 Plutarch's Morals

in the race, he shall come behind him a fair deal, but how?
Surely even as Crisson, the Himeraean, lagged for the nonce
behind King Alexander the Great, when he ran with him for the
best game : for which the king was highly displeased and wroth
at him, when he once perceived it. Cameades was wont to say
that the sons of kings and great rich men learned to do nothing
well and right, but only to sit and ride an horse. For that their
masters are wont to flatter and praise them in all their schools
where they be taught: for if they be at the exercise of wrestling,
you shall have him that wrestleth with them of purpose to take
a fall and lie under them : Marry, the horse, not knowing nor
having the reason to discern a private man's son from a prince;
nor whether he be poor or rich that sits upon his back, will be
sure to cast him over his head and lay him along, whosoever he
be, that cannot skill how to hold and rule him. Bion, therefore,
was but a very lob and fool in saying thus: If I wist that with
praising a piece of ground I could make it good, rich and fertile,
it should want for no praises; and rather would I commend it
than toil and moil in digging, tilling, and doing work about it.
And yet I will not say that a man is to blame and doth amiss
in praising: if so be that those who are praised be the better
and more fruitful in all good things for it. Howbeit, to come
again into the ground before said ; a field being praised never
so much is not the worse nor less fertile therefore: but I assure
you they that commend folk falsely, and beyond their desert and
due, puff them full of wind and vanity, and work their overthrow
in the end. But now, having discoursed sufficiently upon this
article and point of praises, let us proceed forward to treat of
frankness and liberty of speech.

And verily meet and reason it had been, that as Patroclus,
when he put on the armour of Achilles and brought forth his
horses of service to battle, durst not meddle with his spear
Pelias, but left it only untouched ; so a flatterer also, although
he mask and disguise himself with other habits, ornaments and
ensigns of a friend, should let this liberty only of speech alone,
and not once go about to touch or counterfeit it, as being

indeed

A baston of such poise and weight.
So big withal, so stiff and straight,

that of all others it belongeth only to friendship for to be carried
and wielded by it. But forasmuch as our flatterers nowadays
are afraid to be detected in laughing in their cups, in their jests,
scoffs, and gamesome mirth; therefore to avoid such discovery,

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 63

they have learned forsooth to knit and bend the brows, they
can skillj iwis, to flatter, and yet look with a frowning face and
crabbed countenance, they have the cast to temper with their
glavering glozes some rough reprehensions and chiding checks
among: let us not overpass this point untouched, but consider
and examine the same likewise. For mine own part I am of
this mind : That as in a comedy of Menander there comes in a
counterfeit Hercules to play his part upon the stage with a club
on his shoulder, that is (you may be sure) nothing massive,
heavy, stiff and strong, but some device and gawd, hollow and
empty within, made of brown paper or such-like stuff; Even
so, that plain and free speech which a flatterer useth will be
found light, soft, and without any strength at all to give a blow :
much like (to say truly) unto the soft bed pillows that women
lie on, which seeming full and plump to resist and bear out
against their heads, yield and sink under the same so much the
more: For after the same manner this counterfeit free speech
of theirs puffed up full of wind, or else stuffed with some deceitful
light matter, seemeth to rise up, to swell, and bear out hard and
stiff, to the end that being pressed down once (and both sides
as it were coming together) it might receive, enlap and enfold
lim that chanceth to fall thereupon, and so carry him away
A^ith it. Whereas the true and friendly liberty of speech indeed
:aketh hold of those that are delinquent and do offend, bringing
vith it a kind of pain for the time, which notwithstanding is
vholesome and healthful: resembling herein the nature of
loney, which being applied to a sore or ulcerous place, at the
irst doth smart and sting; but it doth cleanse and mundify
vithal, and otherwise is profitable, sweet, and pleasant.

But as touching this plain dealing and frank speech, I will
vrite a part of purpose in place convenient. As for the flatterer,
le maketh shew at the first, that he is rough, violent, and
nexorable in all dealings with others: For over his servants he
arrieth a hard hand, and is not pleased with their service, with
lis familiars, acquaintance and kinsfolk he is sharp and eager,
eady to find fault with everything; he maketh no reckoning
lor account of any man but himself; he despiseth and disdaineth
11 the world besides; there is not a man living that he will
•ardon and forgive ; he blameth and accuseth every one ; and his
/hole study is to win the name and reputation of a man that
ateth vice, and in that regard careth not whom he doth
irovoke, and whose displeasure he incur: as who for no good
i 1 the world would be hired to hold his tongue, nor willingly

64

n^ni Plutarch's Morals i'

forbear to speak plainly the truth ; who with his goodwill would
never speak or do anything to soothe up and please another:
Then will he make semblance as though he neither saw nor
took knowledge of any great and gross sins indeed: but if per-
adventure there be some light and small outward faults, he will
make foul ado thereat, he will keep a wondering and crying out
upon them: then shall you have him in good earnest exclaim
and reprove the delinquent with a loud and sounding voice:
As, for example, if he chance to espy the implements or anything
else about the house lie out of order; if a man be not well and
neatly lodged; if his beard be not of the right cut, or his hair
grow out of fashion; if a garment sit not handsomely about him,
or if a horse or hound be not so carefully tended as they should
be. But say that a man set nought by his parents, neglect his
own children, misuse his wife, disdain and despise his kindred,
spend and consume his goods; none of all these enormities
touch and move him : Here he is mute and hath not a word to
say ; he dares not reprove these abuses : much like as if a master
of the wrestling school, who suffereth a wrestler that is under
his hand to be a drunkard and a whoremonger, should chide and
rebuke him sharply about an oil cruse or curry-comb; or as if
a grammarian should find fault with his scholar and chide him
for his writing-tables or his pen, letting him go away clear with
solecisms, incongruities and barbarisms, as if he heard them not.
Also I can liken a flatterer to him who will not blame an ill
author, or ridiculous rhetorician in anything as touching his
oration itself; but rather reproveth him for his utterance, and
sharply taketh him up for that by drinking of cold water he
hath hurt his wind-pipe, and so marred his voice; or to one
who being bidden to read over and peruse a poor seely epigram
or other writing that is nothing worth, taketh on and fareth
against the paper wherein it is written, for being thick, coarse or
rugged ; or against the writer, for negligent, slovenly or impure
otherwise. Thus the claw-backs and flatterers about King
Ptolemaeus, who would seem to love good letters, and to be
desirous of learning, used ordinarily to draw out their disputa-
tions and conferences at length, even to midnight, debating
about some gloss or signification of a word, about a verse, or
touching some history: but all the while there was not one
among so many of them that would tell him of his cruelty, of
his wrongs and oppressions, nor yet of his drumming,^ tabouring,

> rvuvavl^ovroi Acai reXeoC^ros. Some expound it, beating his subjects
with cudgels, and oppressing them with excessive exactions.

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 65

and other enormous indignities, under the colour of religion;
and seek to reform him. Certes, a foolish fellow were he who,
coming to a man diseased with tumours, swellings, impostumes,
or hollow ulcers, called fistulae, should with a chirurgeon's lancet
or barber's razor, fall to cut his hairs or pare his nails ; even so
it fareth with these flatterers, who apply their liberty of speech
to such things as neither are in pain nor yet do any hurt.

Moreover, some others there be of them, who being more
cunning and crafty than their fellows, use this plainness of
language and reprehension of theirs for to please and make
sport withal. Thus Agis the Argive, seeing how Alexander the
Great gave very great rewards and gifts to a certain pleasant
and odd fellow that was a jester, cried out for very envy and
dolour of heart, 0 great abuse and monstrous absurdity: The
king hearing it, turned about unto him in great displeasure and
indignation, demanding of him what he had to say? I confess
(quoth he) indeed that I am grieved, and I think it a great
indignity, when I see all you that are descended from Jupiter and
his sons, to take pleasure in flatterers and jesters about you, for
to make you merry. For even so Hercules took a delight to
have in his company certain ridiculous Cercopes, and Bacchus
had ever in his train the Silenes. In your court likewise, a man
may see such to be in credit and highly esteemed.

When Tiberius Caesar, the emperor, upon a certain day was
come into the senate house of Rome, one of the senators who
knew how to flatter, arose and stood up, and with a good loud
voice ; Meet it is (quoth he), 0 Caesar, that men free bom should
^ewise have the liberty of speech, and speak their minds
frankly, without dissimuling or concealing anything which they
enow to be good and profitable: with this speech of his he
stirred up the attention of the whole house, so as they gave
5ood ear unto him, and Tiberius himself listened what he would
ay. Now when all was still and in great silence; Hearken
quoth he), 0 Caesar, what it is that we all accuse and blame you
or, but no man dare be so bold as to speak it out: You neglect
'ourself , and have no regard of your own person ; you consume
Jid spoil your body with continual cares and travels for our
ake, taking no rest nor repose either day or night. Now when
le had drawn out a long train of words to this purpose, Cassius
: leverus, a rhetorician, stood up, and by report said thus ; Such
iberty of speech as this will be the utter undoing of this man.

But these flatteries are of the lighter sort, and do less hurt:
here be other more dangerous which work the mischief and

c

66 Plutarch's Morals

corruption of those who are not wise, and take no heed unto
them; namely, when flatterers set in hand to reprove them
whom they flatter, for the contrary vices to those that be in
them. Thus Himerius the flatterer reproached a certain rich
m^n of Athens, the veriest pinching miser and the most covetous
withal that was in the whole city, with the imputations of
prodigality, and negligence about his own profit and gain;
charging him that one day he would smart for it, and both he
and his children be hunger-starved for want wherewith to
sustain themselves, if he looked no better to his thrift : or when
they object miserable niggardise and beggary unto those that
are known to be prodigal spenders, and consume all. After
which manner Titus Petronius reproved Nero.

Again, if they come to princes and great lords, who deal cruelly
and hardly with their subjects and tenants, saying unto them,
that they must lay away this overmuch lenity and foolish pity
of theirs, which neither is seemly for their persons, nor yet
profitable for their state. And very like to these is he who
maketh semblance to him who is a very senseless sot and foolish
fool, that he stands in great fear and doubt of him, lest he should
be circumvented by him, as if he were some cautelous, crafty
and cunning person. He also that doth rebuke another, who
is an ordinary slanderer, who taketh pleasure (upon spite and
envy) to be ever railing on all men, and backbiting them, if he
chance any one time to break out into the praise of some worthy
and excellent personage, saying in this manner unto him; This
is a great fault that you have, and a disease that followeth you,
thus to praise men of no worth : What is he (I pray you) whom
you thus commend.? what good parts be in him? hath he at
any time done any doughty deed, or delivered any singular
speech that might deserve such praises ?

But in amatorious and love matters they pass: there you
shall have them most of all to come over those whom they
flatter and lay on load; to them they will join close, and set
them on a flaming fire. For if they see brethren at some
variance, or setting nought by their parents, or else to deal
unkindly with their own wives, and to set no store by them, or
to be jealous and suspicious of them; they never admonish,
chastise or rebuke them for it, that they may amend, but rather
they will kindle more coals between, and encrease their anger
and discontentment on both sides : Nay, it is no great matter
(will they say), it is even well enough ; you will never see and
know who you are; you are the cause of all this your own self;

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 67

and self do, self have; you evermore have borne yourselves so
pliable, submiss and lowly toward them, but you are but
rightly served. But say there be some itching heat of love, or
smart anger upon jealousy, in regard of a courtesan or married
wife, whom the party is amorous of; then shall you see a
flatterer ready at hand to display his cunning openly, and to
speak his mind freely unto him, putting fire to fire and feeding
his love ; you shall have him to lay the law upon this lover, accus-
ing and entering process against him in these terms : You have
broken the laws of love; you have done and said many things
not so kindly as beseemed a true lover, but rather dealt hardly
with your love, and enough to lose her heart, and incur her
hatred for ever:

Unthankful person that thou art,
For kisses so many of thy sweetheart.

Thus the flattering friends of Antonius, when he burned in love
of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, would persuade and make him
believe that she it was who was enamoured upon him, and by
way of opprobrious imputation they would tell him to his face
that he was proud, disdainful, hard-hearted, and void of all kind
affection. This noble queen (would they say) forsaking so
mighty and wealthy a kingdom, so many pleasant palaces, and
stately houses of blessed abode, such means and opportunities
of happiness, for the love of you pineth away, and consumeth
herself, trudging after your camp to and fro, for to do your
honour content and pleasure with the habit and title of your
concubine.

Whiles you in breast do carry an heart
Which will not be wrought by any art,

neglecting her (good lady) and suffering her to perish for sorrow
and heart's grief. Whereupon he being well enough pleased to
hear himself thus charged with wrong-doing to her, and taking
more pleasure in these accusations of theirs than if they had
directly praised him, was so blind that he could not see how
they that seemed thus to admonish him of his duty, perverted
and corrupted him thereby so much the more. For this counter-
feit liberty of plain dealing and plain speech may be very well
likened to the wanton pinches and bitings of luxurious women
who tickle and stir up the lust and pleasure of men by that
ivhich might seem to cause their pain. For like as pure wine,
A'hich otherwise of itself is a sure remedy against the poison of
lemlock, if a man do mingle it with the juice of the said hemlock.

68 Plutarch's Morals

doth mightily enforce the poison thereof, and make it irre-
mediable, for that by means of the heat it conveyeth the same
more speedily unto the heart; even so these lewd and mis-
chievous flatterers, knowing full well that frank speech is a
singular help and remedy against flattery, abuse it to flatter
withal. And therefore it seemeth that Bias answered not so well
as he might have done, to one that asked of him, which was the
shrewdest and most hurtful beast of all other: If (quoth he)
your question be of wild and savage, a tyrant is worse; if of
tame and gentle, a flatterer. For he might have said more
truly; that of flatterers some be of a tame kind, such (I mean)
as these parasites are who haunt the bains and stouphs; those
also that follow good cheer and keep about the table. As for
him who (like as the pourcuttle fish stretcheth out his claws like
branches) reacheth as far as to the secret chambers and cabinets
of women, with his busy intermeddling, with his calumniations
and malicious demeanours, such a one is savage, fell, intractable,
and dangerous to be approached.

Now one of the means to beware of this flattery is to know
and remember always that our soul consisteth of two parts,
whereof the one is addicted to the truth, loving honesty and
reason; the other more brutish, of the own nature unreasonable,
given to untruth and withal passionate. A true friend assisteth
evermore the better part, in giving counsel and comfort, even
as an expert and skilful physician, who hath an eye that aimeth
always at the maintenance and increase of health: but the
flatterer doth apply himself, and settleth to that part which is
void of reason and full of passions: this he scratcheth, this he
tickleth continually, this he stroketh and handleth in such sort,
by devising some vicious and dishonest pleasures, that he with-
draweth and turneth it away quite from the rule and guidance
of reason. Moreover, as there be some kind of viands, which
if a man eat they neither turn unto blood nor engender spirits,
nor yet add vigour and strength to the nerves and the marrow;
but all the good they do is haply to cause the flesh or genital
parts to rise, to stir and loose the belly, or to breed some foggy,
phantom and half-rotten flesh, which is neither fast nor sound
within; even so, if a man look nearly and have good regard
unto a flatterer, he shall never find that all the words he useth,
minister or procure one jot of good to him that is wise and
governed by reason; but feed fools with the pleasant delights of
love; kindle and augment the fire of inconsiderate anger; pro-
voke them unto envy; breed in them an odious and vain pre-

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 69

sumption of their own wit; increase their sorrow and grief, with
moaning them and lamenting with them for company; set on
work and exasperate their inbred naughtiness and lewd dis-
position; their illiberal mind and covetous nature; their diffi-
dence and distrustfulness of others; their base and servile
timidity, making them always worse, and apt to conceive ill;
more fearful, jealous and suspicious, by the means of some new
accusations, false surmises and conjectural suggestions, which
they be ready to put into their heads. For evermore it getteth
closely into some vicious passion and affection of the mind, and
there lurketh ; the same it nourisheth and feedeth fat, but anon
it appeareth like a botch, rising eftsoons upon the corrupt,
diseased or inflamed parts of the soul. Art thou angry with
one? punish him (saith he): Hast thou a mind to a thing ? buy
it, and make no more ado: Art thou never so little afraid? let
us fiy and be gone : Suspectest thou this or that ? believe it
confidently (saith he).

But if peradventure, be can hardly be seen and discovered
about these passions, for that they be so mighty and violent
that oftentimes they chase and expel all use of reason, he will
give some vantage to be sooner taken in others that be not
so strong and vehement, where we shall find him always the
same and like himself. For say a man do suspect that he hath
taken a surfeit, either by over-liberal feeding or drinking heady
wine, and upon that occasion make some doubt to bathe his
body, or to eat presently again and lay gorge upon gorge (as they
say): A true friend will advise him to forbear and abstain; he
will admonish him to take heed to himself and look to his
health: In comes a flatterer, and he will draw him to the bain
in all haste; he will bid him to call for some novelty or other
to be set upon the board, willing him to fall fresh to it again,
and not to punish his body and do himself injury by fasting
and refusing his meat and drink : Also if he see him not disposed
to take a journey by land or voyage by sea, or to go about any
enterprise, whatsoever it be, slowly and with an ill will, he will
say unto him; either that there is no such great need, or the
time is not so convenient, but it may be put off to a farther day,
or it will serve the turn well enough to send others about it.

Now if it fall out so, that he having made promise to some
familiar friend either to lend or let him have the use of some
money, or to give him it freely, do change his mind and repent
of his promise; but yet be somewhat abashed and ashamed
thus to break his word ; the flatterer by and by will put himself

70 Plutarch's Morals

to the worse and lighter end of the balance, and make it weigh
downe on the purse side, soon excluding and cutting off all
shame for the matter: What, man! (will he say), spare your
purse and save your silver; you are at a great charge ; you keep
a great house, and have many about you which must be main-
tained and have sufficient; in such sort, that if we be not alto-
gether ignorant of ourselves, and wilfully blind, not seeing that
we be covetous, shameless, timorous and base-minded, we
cannot choose but start and find out a flatterer; neither is it
possible that he should escape us. For surely he will evermore
defend and maintain these imperfections, and frankly will he
speak his mind in favour thereof, if he perceive us to over-pass
ourselves therein. But thus much may suffice as touching
these matters.

Let us come now to the uses and services that a flatterer is
employed in: For in such oflSces he doth confound, trouble, and
darken much the difference between him and a true friend;
shewing himself in appearance always diligent, ready and
prompt in all occurrences, without seeking any colourable
pretences of shifting off, and a refusing to do anything. As
for a faithful friend, his whole carriage and behaviour is simple,
like as be the words of truth, as saith Euripides, without welts
and guards, plain without plaits, and nothing counterfeit:
whereas the conditions of a flatterer, to say a truth,

By nature are diseased much,
And medicines needful are for such,

not only with wisdom to be ministered and applied, but also
many in number, and those (I assure you) of a more exquisite
making and composition than any other. And verily as friends
many times when they meet one another in the street, pass by
without good-morrow or god-speed, or any word at all between
them ; only by some lightsome look, cheerful smile, or amiable
regard of the eye reciprocally given and taken, without any
other token else, there is testified the goodwill and mutual
affection of the heart within: whereas the flatterer runneth
toward his friend to meet him, foUoweth apace at his heels,
spreadeth forth both his arms abroad, and that afar off, to
embrace him: and if it chance that he be saluted and spoken
to first, because the other had an eye on him before, he will with
brave words excuse himself, yea, and many times call for wit-
nesses, and bind it with great oaths good store, that he saw
him not.

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 71

Even so likewise in their afJairs and negotiations abroad in
the world, friends omit and overslip many small and light things,
not searching narrowly into matters, not offering or expecting
again any exquisite service; nothing curious and busy in each
thing, nor yet putting themselves forward to every kind of
ministry: but the flatterer is herein double diligent, he will be
continually employed and never rest, without seeming at any
time to be weary, no place, no space nor opportunity will he
give the other to do any service; he looketh to be called unto
and commanded; and if he be not bidden, he will take it ill
and be displeased; nay, you shall have him then out of heart
and discouraged, complaining of his ill fortune, and protesting
before God and man, as if he had some great wrong done unto
him. These be evident marks and undoubted arguments to
such as have wit and understanding, not of a friendship sound,
sober and honest, but rather smelling of wanton and whorish
love, which is more ready to embrace and clip than is decent
and seemly. Howbeit, to examine the same more particularly,
let us consider what difference there is between a flatterer and
a friend, as touching the offers and promises that they make.
They who have written of this theme before us, say very well
that a friend's promise goeth in this form:

If that I can, or if it may be done.

Fulfil I will your mind, and that right soon.

But the offer of a flatterer runneth in this manner:

What would you have? say but the word to me.
Without all doubt efEected it shall be.

For such frank promisers and braggers as these the poets also
use to bring unto the stage in their comedies, after this sort :

Now of all loves, Nicomachus, this I crave.
Set me against this soldier here so brave,
I will so swinge his coat, you shall it see.
That like a pompion his flesh shall tender be:
His face, his head I shall much softer make.
Than is the spunge that grows in sea or lake.

Moreover, you shall not see a friend offer his helping hand or
aid in any action, unless he were called before to counsel, and
his opinion asked of the enterprise, or that he have approved
and set down the same upon good advisement, to be either
honest or profitable: whereas the flatterer, if a man should do
him so much credit, as to require his consent and approbation,
or otherwise request him to deliver his opinion of the thing, he.

72 Plutarch's Morals

not only upon a desire to yield unto others and to gratify them,
but also for fear to give any suspicion that he would seem to
draw back and avoid to set his hand to any work or business
whatsoever, is ready with the foremost to apply himself to the
appetite and inclination of another, yea and withal, pricketh
and inciteth him forward to enter upon it. And yet lightly
you shall find even of rich men and kings but few or none who
can or will come forth with these words :

Would God some one that needy is and poor,
Yea, worse than he that begs from door to door.
Would come to me (so that he were my friend)
Without all fear, and speak to me his mind.

But nowadays it is far otherwise; for they are much like unto
composers of tragedies, who will be provided of a quire or dance
of their friends to sing with them, or desire to have a theatre of
purpose to give applause and clap their hands unto them. And
verily, whereas Merope in a certain tragedy giveth these sage
and wise advertisements:

Take those for friends, I rede, and hold them so,
Whose speech is sound, and waves not to and fro;
But those that please thy mind in word and deed,
Count lewd, and such lock forth of door with speed :

our potentates and grand seigneurs do clean contrary; for
such as will not follow their humours, and soothe them up at
every word, but gainsay their courses, in making remonstrance
of that which is more profitable and expedient; such they
disdain and will not vouchsafe them a good look. But for
those wicked wretches, base-minded varlets, and cozening im-
postors, who can curry favour, they not only set their doors
wide open for such, and receive them into their houses, but they
admit them also to conferences with their inward affections and
the very secrets of their heart. Among whom you shall have
one more plain perhaps and simple than the rest, who will say
that it is not for him, neither is he worthy to deliberate and
consult of so great affairs; marry, he could be content, and
would take upon him, to be a poor servitor and minister, to
execute whatsoever were concluded and enjoined him to do:
another more crafty and cunning than his fellows, is willing
enough to be used in counsel, where he will hear all doubts and
perils that be cast; his eyebrows shall speak if they will, his
head and eyes shall nod and make signs, but his tongue shall
not speak a word: Say that the party whom he mindeth to
flatter do utter his mind and what he thinketh good to do: then

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 73

will he cry out aloud and say, By Hercules, I swear it was at
my tongue's end to have said as much, had you not prevented
me and taken the word out of my mouth, I would have given
you the very same counsel. For like as the mathematicians
do affirm that the superficial and outward extremities, the lines
also of the mathematical bodies, do of themselves and in their
own nature neither bend nor stretch, nor yet move at all: for
that they be intellectual only or imaginary, and not corporal,
but according as the bodies do bow, reach or stir, so do they;
so you shall ever find that a flatterer will pronounce, opine,
think and be moved to anger, according as he seeth another
before him.

And therefore in this kind, most easy it is to observe the
difference between a flatterer and a friend. But yet more
evident you shall see it in the manner of doing service. For
the offices and kindnesses which come from a friend are ever
best, and (as living creatures) have their most proper virtues
inwardly, carrying least in shew, and having no outward ostenta-
tion of glorious pomp. And as it falleth out many times a
physician cureth his patient, and sayeth little or nothing at all
unto him, but doth the deed ere he be aware; even so, a good
friend, whether he be present or departed from his friend, doth
him good still, and taketh care for him when he full little knoweth
of it. Such a one was Arcesilaus the philosopher, who beside
many other kind parts which he shewed unto his friend Apelles,
the painter of Chios, coming one day to visit him when he was
sick, and perceiving how poor he was, went his way for that
time: and when he returned again, brought twenty good
drachms with him: and then, sitting close unto Apelles by his
bedside: Here is nothing here (quoth he) I see well, but these
four bare elements that Empedocles writeth of:

Hot fire, cold water, sheer and soft :
Gross earth, pure air that spreads aloft.

But methinks you lie not at your ease; and with that he
removed the pillow or bolster under his head, and so conveyed
underneath it privily the small pieces of coin aforesaid. The
old woman his nurse and keeper, when she made the bed, found
this money : whereat she marvelled not a little, and told Apelles
thereof, who laughing thereat: This is (quoth he) one of Arce-
silaus his thievish casts. And for that it is a maxim in philo-.
jophy, that children are bom like their parents, one Lacydes,-
X scholar of Arcesilaus aforesaid, being assistant with many

74 Plutarch's Morals

others to a friend of his named Cephisocrates, when he came
to his trial in a case of treason against the state: in pleading
of which cause, the accuser his adversary called for Cephi-
socrates his ring, a pregnant evidence that made against him,
which he had cleanly slipped from his finger and let it fall to the
ground; whereof the said Lacydes being advised, set his foot
presently over it, and so kept it out of sight : for that the main
proof of the matter in question lay upon that ring. Now after
sentence passed on Cephisocrates his side, and that he was
cleanly acquit of the crime, he went privately to every one of the
judges for to give them thanks: One of them who (as it should
seem) had seen what was done, willed him to thank Lacydes:
and with that told how the case stood, and how it went with
him as it did: but all this while Lacydes himself had not said
a word to any creature. Thus I think verily that the gods
themselves do bestow many benefits and favours upon men
secretly, and whereof they be not aware; being of this nature
to take joy and pleasure in bountifulness and doing good.

Contrariwise, the office that a flatterer seemeth to perform,
hath nothing in it that is just, nothing true, nothing simple,
nothing liberal: only you shall see him sweat at it; you shall
have him run up and down ; keep a loud crying and a great ado,
and set his countenance upon the matter, so as that he maketh
right good semblance and shew that he doth especial service,
taketh much care and pains about his business, and maketh
haste to dispatch it: and much like are all his doings to a curious
picture, which with strange colours, with broken plaits, wrinkles
and angles, affecteth and striveth (as it were) to shew some
lively resemblance. Moreover, much ado he maketh, and is
troublesome in telling how he went to and fro, wandering here
and there about the matter; also what a deal of care he took
therein; how he incurred the evil will and displeasure of others;
and a thousand hindrances, troubles and dangers, as besides
he reckoneth up; insomuch as a man that heareth would say;
All that ever he did was not worth so much as the twittle-twattle
that he maketh. For surely a good turn that is upbraided in
that wise, becometh burdensome, odious, and not thankfully
accepted, but intolerable.

In all the offices and services of a flatterer you shall find these
upbraidings and shameful reports, that would make one blush
to hear them, and those not only after the deed done, but at the
very instant when he is about it. But instead hereof, a true
friend, if it fall out so, that he be forced and urged to relate

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend y^

what is done, maketh a plain report and narration in modest
manner; but of himself he will never say word. After which
sort did the Lacedaemonians in times past, when they had sent
corn unto the Smyrnaeans, which, in their extreme necessity,
they craved at their hands: For at what time as the men of
Smyrna magnified, and wonderfully extolled this liberality of
theirs, they returned this answer again: This is not so great a
matter that it should deserve so highly to be praised or wondered
at : for (say they) gathered we have thus much, and made this
supply of your necessities, only by cutting ourselves and our
labouring beasts short of one day's pittance and allowance.
Bounty in this wise performed is not only gentleman-like and
liberal indeed, but also more welcome and acceptable to the
receivers; inasmuch as they think it was no great damage, nor
much out of their way that did it. Furthermore, not only this
odious fashion of doing any service with such pain and trouble,
or the readiness to make offer and promise so quickly, doth
principally bewray the nature of a flatterer: but herein also
much more he may be discovered : for that a friend is willingly
employed in honest causes: but a flatterer in shameful and
dishonest: as also in the divers ends that they purpose ; for the
one seeketh to profit his friend, the other to please only. A
friend, as Gorgias was wont to say, will never require that his
friend should do him a pleasure, but in just things only: whiles
a flatterer serve th his turn in many things that are unjust: For
why ?

To do good deeds friends should be joint.

But not to sin in any point ;

whereas he should endeavour to avert and withdraw him from
that which is not decent, or seemly: Now if it happen that the
other will not be persuaded by him, then were it not amiss to
say unto him, as Antipater once answered Phocion; You cannot
have me to be a friend and flatterer too, (that is to say) a friend,
and no friend. For one friend is to stand to another, and to
assist him in doing, and not in misdoing, in consulting, and not
in complotting and conspiring, in bearing witness with him of
the truth, and not in circumventing any one by falsehood, yea,
and to take part with him in suffering calamity, and not to bear
him company in doing injury: For say that we may chance to
be privy unto some shameful and reproachful deeds of our
friend; yet we ought not to be party unto them therein, nor
willing to aid them in any undecent action. For like as the
Lacedaemonians being defeated in battle by King Antipater,

76

Plutarch's Morals

and treating with him about the capitulations and articles of
peace, made request unto him that he would impose upon
them what conditions he would himself, were they never
so chargeable and disadvantageous unto them, but in no wise
enjoin them to do any shameful indignity; even so a faithful
friend ought to be so disposed, that if his friend's occasions do
require any matter of expense, danger, or travail, he shew
himself at the first call and holding up of his finger ready to
come, and cheerfully to take his part and undergo the same,
without any shifting off, or allegation of any excuse whatsoever:
marry, if there be never so little shame or dishonour that may
accrue thereby, he shall then refuse and pray him to hold him
excused; he shall request pardon and desire to have leave for
to be dismissed and depart in peace.

The flatterer is quite contrary: for in painful, difficult and
dangerous affairs, which require his help and assistance, he
draweth back, and is ready to pluck his neck out of the collar:
if (I say) in this case you seem for trial sake to knock (as it were
upon a pot) to see whether he be right, he will not ring clear;
but you shall see by the dead sound of his pretended and forged
excuses, that he is full of cracks and flaws: contrariwise, in
dishonest, vile, base, and shameful ministeries, I am for you
(will he say), I am yours to command ; do with me what you
will, tread me under your foot, abuse me at your pleasure: to be
short, he will think nothing to be an ignominious indignity unto
him. See you not the ape? good he is not to keep the house
and to give warning of thieves, as dogs do ; carry upon his back
any burdens he cannot, like the horse; neither yet is he fit to
draw or to plough the ground, as the ox doth; and therefore
he beareth all kind of abuse and misusing, all wrongs, all un-
happy sports and tricks that can be devised, serving only as an
instrument of mockery, and a mere laughing-stock. Even so
it fareth with a flatterer, being not meet to plead at the bar for
a friend, to assist him in counsel, to lay his hand to his purse
and supply his wants that way, nor to fight as his champion
in maintenance of his quarrel, as one that can away with no
labour, no painstaking, or serious employment; and in one
word, fit for nothing that good is: marry, in such affairs as
may be done under the arm, that is to say, which be close,
secret and filthy services, he is the forwardest man in the world,
and maketh no excuses. A trusty courier he is between, in love
matters; in finding favour with a bawd and bringing a wench
or harlot to your bed, he is excellent, and hath a marvellous

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 77

gift; to make the shot, and clear the reckoning of any sumptuous
feast or banquet he is ready and perfect; in providing for a
great dinner or supper, and setting the same forth accordingly,
he is nothing slow, but nimble enough. To give entertainment
unto concubines he is very handsome, obsequious and service-
able ; if one bid him to speak audaciously and malapertly against
a father-in-law, a guardian, tutor, or any such, or to put away
his true espoused wife, like as he seeth his good master do before
him, he is without all shame and mercy: so that even herein
also it is no hard matter to see what kind of man he is, and
how much he differeth from a true friend: For command him
to commit what villany and wickedness you will, ready he is
to execute the same, and so he may gratify and pleasure you
that set him on work, he careth not to do any injury to himself.
There is, moreover, another means not of the least conse-
quence, whereby a man may know how much a flatterer differeth
from a friend indeed, namely, by his disposition and behaviour
towards his other friends : for a true friend findeth contentment
in nothing so much as to love many, and likewise to be loved of
many; and herein he laboureth especially with his friend to
procure himself many others to love and honour him : for being
of this opinion, that among good friends all things are common,
he thinketh that nothing ought to be more common than friends
themselves. But the supposed, false, and counterfeit friend,
being privy to his own conscience, that he doth great injury
to true amity and friendship, which he doth corrupt in manner
of a base piece of money: as he is by nature envious, so he
exerciseth that envy of his upon such as be like himself, striving
with a kind of emulation to surpass them in scurrile speech,
giving of taunts and garrulity, but before such as he knoweth
better than himself, he trembleth and is afraid, and in truth
dare not come near nor shew his face to such an one, no more
(I assure you) than a footman to go and keep pace (according
to the proverb) with a Lydian chariot, or rather, as Simonides
saith.

Laid to fine gold tried clean from dross,
He hath not so much as lead so gross.

Being compared with true, sound, and grave friendship, which
(as they say) will endure the hammer, he cannot choose but
find himself to be but light, falsified, and deceitful: seeing then
that he must needs be detected and known for such an one as
he is, what doth he, think you? Surely he playeth like an
unskilful painter, who had painted certain cocks, but very

78 Plutarch's Morals

badly: For like as he gave commandment to his boy for to
keep away natural and living cocks, indeed, far enough off from
his pictures; so a flatterer will do what he can to chase away
true friends, and not suffer them to approach near; or if he
be not able so to do, then openly and in public place he will
seem to curry favour with them, to honour and admire them,
as far better than himself; but secretly, underhand, and behind
their backs, he will not let to raise some privy calumniations, and
sow slanderous reports tending to their discredit: but if he see
that by such privy girds and pinches which will fret and gall
the sore, he cannot at the first bring his purpose about : yet he
remembreth full well and observeth the saying of Medius.

This Medius was the chief captain of the troupe, or the master
rather of the quire (if I may so say) of all those flatterers that
used the court of King Alexander the Great, and came about his
person; the principal sophister also that opposed himself and
banded against all good men, and never rested to slander and
backbite them : This rule and lesson he taught his scholars and
quiristers that were under his hand. To cast out slanders boldly,
and not to spare, therewith to bite others: For (quoth he)
although the sore may heal up again, yet the scar will remain
and be ever seen. By these cicatrices and scars of false im-
putations, or (to speaic more properly and truly) by such gan-
grenes and cankerous ulcers as these, Alexander the king being
corroded and eaten, did to death Callisthenes, Parmenion, and
Philotas, his fast and faithful friends: but to such as Agnon,
Bagoas, Agesias and Demetrius were, he abandoned and gave
himself wholly to be supplanted and overthrown at their
pleasure, whiles he was by them adored, adorned, arrayed
gorgeously with rich robes, and set out like a barbarian image,
statue or idol. Lo, what is the force and power of flattery to
win grace and favour; and namely in those who would be
reputed the mightiest monarches and greatest potentates of the
world, it beareth most sway: For such are persuaded, and
desirous also, that the best things should be in themselves ; and
this is it that giveth both credit and also boldness unto a
flatterer. True it is, I must confess, that the highest places and
forts situate upon the loftiest mounts, are least accessible and
most hard to be gained by those who would surprise and force
them; but where there is an high spirit and haughty mind by
nature, not guided by sound judgment of reason, but lifted
up with the favours of fortune, or nobility of birth, it is the
easiest matter in the world even for most base and vile persons

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 79

to conquer such, and the avenues to them lie ready and open,
to give the vantage of easiest entrance.

And therefore, as in the beginning of this treatise I gave
warning; so now I admonish the readers again in this place;
That every man would labour and strive with himself to root
out that self-love and overweening that they have of their own
good parts and worthiness: For this is it that doth flatter us
within, and possesseth our minds beforehand, whereby we are
exposed and lie more open unto flatterers that are without,
finding us thus prepared already for to work upon. But if we
would obey the god Apollo, and by acknowledging how much
in all things we ought to esteem that oracle of his, which com-
mandeth us to know ourselves, search into our own nature,
and examine withal our nouriture and education : when we find
there an infinite number of defects, and many vanities, imper-
fections and faults, mixed untowardly in our words, deeds,
thoughts and passions, we would not so easily suffer these
flatterers to tread us under their feet, and make a bridge of us
as they do at their pleasure.

King Alexander the Great was wont to say, that two things
there were especially which moved him to have less belief in
them who saluted and greeted him by the name of a god : The
one was sleep, and the other the use of Venus: in both which
he found that he was worse than himself, that is to say, subject
to infirmities and passions more than in anything else : But if
we would look into ourselves and ever and anon consider how
many gross vices, troublesome passions, imperfections and
defects we have, surely we shall find that we stood in great need,
not of a false friend to flatter us in our follies, and to praise
and extol us; but rather of one that would frankly find fault
with our doings, and reprove us in those vices that each one
privately and in particular doth commit. But very few there
be among many others, who dare freely and plainly speak unto
their friends, but rather soothe them up and seek to please them
in everything: And even in those, as few as they be, hardly
shall you find any that know how to do it well, but for the most
part they think that they speak freely, when they do nothing
but reprove, reproach and rail.

Howbeit, this liberty of speech whereof I speak is of the nature
of a medicine, which if it be not given in time convenient and as
it ought to be, besides that it doth no good at all, it troubleth
the body, worketh grievance, and instead of a remedy proveth
to be a mischief: For even so, he that doth reprehend and find

8o Plutarch's Morals

fault unseasonably, bringeth forth the like effect with pain as
a flatterer doth with pleasure. For men are apt to receive hurt
and damage, not only by overmuch praise; but also by inor-
dinate blame when it is out of due time : for it is the only thing
that of all others maketh them soonest to turn aside unto
flatterers, and to be most easily surprised by them; namely,
when from those things that stand most opposite and highest
against them, they turn aside like water, and run down those
ways that be more low, easy, and hollow. In which regard it
behoveth that this liberty in fault-finding be tempered with a
certain amiable affection, and accompanied with the judgment
of reason, which may take away the excessive vehemency and
force of sharp words, like the over-bright shining of some
glittering light, and for fear lest their friends being dazzled as
it were and frighted with the flashing beams of their rebukes,
seeing themselves so reproved for each thing, and blamed every
while, may take such a grief and thought thereupon, that for
sorrow they be ready to fly unto the shadow of some flatterer,
and turn toward that which will not trouble them at all.
For we must avoid all vice (0 Philopappus), and seek to
correct the same by the means of virtue (and not by another
vice contrary unto it) as some do ; who for to shun foolish and
rustical bashfulness, grow to be overbold and impudent; for to
eschew rude incivility, fall to be ridiculous jesters and pleasants;
and then they think to be farthest off from cowardice and
effeminate tenderness, when they come nearest to extreme
audacity and boasting bravery. Others there be who to prove
themselves not to be superstitious, become mere atheists; and
because they would not be thought and reputed idiots and fools,
prove artificial coney-catchers. And surely in redressing the
enormities of their manners, they do as much as those who, for
want of knowledge and skill to set a piece of wood straight that
twineth and lieth crooked one way, do curb and bend it as
much another way.

But the most shameful means to avoid and shun the suspicion
of a flatterer, is to make a man's self odious and troublesome
without profit; and a very rude and rustical fashion this is, of
seeking to win favour, and that with savour of no learning, skill,
and civility, to become unpleasant, harsh, and sour to a friend,
for to shun that other extreme, which in friendship seemeth to
be base and servile ; which is as much as if a freed slave newly
franchised should in a comedy think that he could not use and
enjoy his liberty of speech, unless he might be allowed licentiously

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 8i

to accuse another without controlment. Considering, then, that
it is a foul thing to fall to flattery, in studying to please, as also
for the avoiding of flattery, by immoderate liberty of speech,
to corrupt and mar, as well the grace of amity and winning love,
as the care of remedying and reforming that which is amiss:
and seeing that we ought to avoid both the one and the other:
and as in all things else, so free speaking is to have the perfec-
tion from a mean and mediocrity; reason would, and by order
it were requisite, that toward the end of this treatise we should
add somewhat in manner of a corollary and complement, as
touching that point.

Forasmuch as therefore we see that this liberty of language
and reprehension hath many vices following it, which do much
hurt: let us assay to take them away one after another, and
begin first with blind self-love and private regards: where we
ought especially to take heed that we be not seen to do anything
for our own interest, and in respect of ourselves; and namely,
that we seem not, for wrong that we have received ourselves,
or upon any grief of our own, to reproach, upbraid, or revile
other men: for they will never take it as done for any love or
goodwill that we bear unto them, but rather upon some dis-
contentment and heart-burning that we have, when they see
that our speech tendeth unto a matter wherein we are interested
ourselves; neither will they repute our words spoken by way
of admonition unto them, but rather interpret them as a com-
plaint of them. For surely the liberty of speech whereof we
treat, as it respecteth the welfare of our friend, so it is grave
and venerable; whereas complaints favour rather of self-love
and a base mind. Hereupon it is that we reverence, honour,
and admire those who for our good deliver their minds frankly
unto us: contrariwise, we are so boM as to accuse, challenge
and charge reciprocally, yea, and contemn those that make
complaints of us. Thus we read in Homer, that Agamemnon,
who could not bear and endure Achilles, when he seemed to tell
him his mind after a moderate manner; but he was well enough
content to abide and suffer Ulysses, who touched him near,
and bitterly rebuked him in this wise :

Ah wretch, would God some abject host

Beside us, by your hand
Conducted were ; so that in field

You did not us command.

As sharp a check as this was, yet being delivered by a wise
man, proceeding from a careful mind, and tendering the good

82 Plutarch's Morals

of the commonweal, he gave place thereto, and kicked not
again: for this Ulysses had no private matter nor particular
quarrel against him, but spake frankly for the benefit of all
Greece : whereas Achilles seemed to be offended and displeased
with him principally, for some private matter between them
twain. And even Achilles also himself, although he was never
known for to be a man of a gentle nature and of a mild spirit,

But rather of a stomach fell,

And one who would accuse
A guiltless person for no cause,

And him full soon abuse,

endured Patroclus patiently, and gave him not a word again,
notwithstanding he taunted and took him up in this wise:

Thou merciless and cruel wretch,

Sir Peleus, valiant knight
Was never (sure) thy father true.

Nor yet dame Thetis bright
Thy mother kind: but sea so green.

Or rocks so steep and hard
Thee bare (thy heart of pity hath

So small or no regard).

For like as Hyperides the orator required the Athenians (who
■complained that his orations were bitter) to consider of him,
not only whether he were sharp and eager simply, but whether
he were so upon no cause, nor taking any fee; even so, the
admonition and reprehension of a friend, being sincere and
cleansed pure from all private affection, ought to be reverenced :
it carrieth (I say) authority with it, and no exceptions can well
be taken, nor a man dare lift up an eye against it: in such sort,
as if it appear that he who chideth freely, and blameth his friend,
doth let pass and reject all those faults which he hath com-
mitted against him, and maketh no mention thereof, but
toucheth those errors and misdemeanors only which concern
others, and then spare him not, but pierce and bite to the quick :
the vehemency of such free speech is invincible, and cannot be
■challenged, for the mildness and goodwill of the chastiser doth
fortify the austerity and bitu?rness of the chastisement. Well
therefore it was said in old time ; That whensoever we are angry,
or at some jar and variance with our friends, then most of all
we ought to have an eye unto their good, and to study how to
do somewhat that is either profitable unto them, or honourable
for them.

And no less material is this also to the maintenance of friend-
:ship, if they that think themselves to be despised and not well

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 83

regarded of their friends, do put them in mind, and tell them
frankly of others, who are neglected by them, and not accounted
of as they should be. Thus dealt Plato with Denys, at what
time he was in disgrace, and saw how he made no reckoning
at all of him: For he came unto the tyrant upon a time, and
requested that he might have a day of audience and leave to
confer with him: Denys granted his request, supposing verily
that Plato had a purpose to complain and expostulate with him
in his own behalf, and thereupon to discourse with him at
large: But Plato reasoned and debated the matter with him in
this manner: Sir (quoth he), 0 Denys, if you were advertised
and knew that some enemy or evil wilier of yours were arrived
and landed in Sicily, with a full intention to do you some dis-
pleasure, although he had no opportunity or means to execute
and effect the same, would you let him sail away again and
depart from Sicily with impunity, and before he were talked
withal? I trow not, 0 Plato (quoth Denys), but I would look
to him well enough for that: For we ought to hate and punish
not the actions only, but th'" very purposes and intentions also
of enemies. But how and if (quoth Plato again) on the contrary
side ; some other being expressly and of purpose come for mere
love and affection that he beareth unto you, and fully minded
to do you some pleasure, or to advise you for your good, you
will give him neither time nor opportunity therefore ; is it meet
(think you) that he should be thus unthankfuUy dealt withal,
or hardly entreated at your hands.? With that Dionysius was
somewhat moved, and demanded who that might be? ^schines
(quoth Plato) is he, a man fair conditioned, and of as honest
carriage and behaviour as any one that ever came out of
Socrates' school, or daily and familiarly conversed with him;
sufficient and able by his eloquence and pithy speech to reform
the manners of those with whom he keepeth company: This
^schines (I say) having taken a long voyage over sea and
arrived here, intending for to confer with you philosophically,
is nothing regarded, nor set by at all. These words touched
Denys so to the very quick, that presently he not only took Plato
in his arms, embracing him most lovingly, and yielding him
great thanks for that kindness, and highly admiring his mag-
nanimity; but also from that time forward, entreated ^schines
right courteously, and did him all the honour that he could.

Secondly, this liberty of speech which now is in hand, we
ought to clear and purge clean from all contumelious and injurious
words, from laughter, scoffs, and scurrile taunts, which are the

84

Plutarch's Morals

hurtful and unwholesome sauces (as I may say) wherewith many
use to season their free language. For like as a chirurgeon,
when he maketh incision and cutteth the fiesh of his patient,
had need to use great dexterity, to have a nimble hand and an
even ; yea, and everything neat and fine belonging to this work
and operation of his : as for all dancing, gesticulations besides
of his fingers, toyish motions, and superfluous agitation thereof,
to shew the agility of his hand, he is to forbear for that time:
So this liberty of speech unto a friend doth admit well a certain
kind of elegancy and civility, provided always that the grace
thereof retain still a decent and comely gravity, whereas if it
chance to have audacious bravery, saucy impurity and inso-
lency, to the hurt or hindrance of credit, it is utterly marred
and looseth all authority.

And therefore it was not an unproper and unelegant speech,
wherewith a musician upon a time stopped King Philip's mouth
that he had not a word to say again : For when he was about
to have disputed and contested against the said minstrel, as
touching good fingering, and the sound of the several strings of
his instrument: Oh, sir (quoth he), God forbid that ever you
should fall to so low an estate as to be more cunning in these
matters than I. But contrariwise, Epicharmus spake not so
aptly and to the purpose in this behalf: For when King Hiero,
who a little before had put to death some of his familiar acquaint-
ance, invited him not many days after to supper. Yea, marry,
sir, but the other day when you sacrificed, you bade not your
friends to the feast. And as badly answered Antiphon, who
upon a time when there was some question before Denys the
Tyrant, what was the best kind of brass : Marry, that (quoth he)
whereof the Athenians made the statues of Harmodius and
Aristogiton. Such speeches as these are tart and biting, and
no good can come thereof, neither hath that scurrility and
scoffing manner any delight, but a kind of intemperance it is
of the tongue, mingled with a certain maliciousness of mind,
implying a will to do hurt and injury, and shewing plain enmity,
which as many as use, work their own mischief and destruction,
dancing (as the proverb saith) a dance untowardly about a
pit's brink, or jesting with edged tools. For surely it cost
Antiphon his life, who was put to death by the said Denys.
And Timagenes lost for ever the favour and friendship of
Augustus Caesar, not for any frank speech and broad language
that ever he used against him; but only because he had taken
up a foolish fashion at every feast or banquet, whereunto the

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 85

emperor invited him, and whensoever he walked with him,
eftsoons and to no purpose he would come out with these verses
in Homer:

For naught else but to make some sport
Among the Greeks he did resort ;

pretending that the cause of that favour which he had with the
emperor, was the grace and gift that he had in flouting and
reviling others: and even the very comical poets in old time,
exhibited and represented to the theatres many grave, austere,
and serious remonstrances, and those pertaining to policy and
government of state: but there be scurrile speeches inter-
mingled among, for ^to move laughter, which (as one unsavoury
dish of meat among many other good viands) mar all their
liberty of speech and the benefit thereof; so as it is vain and
doth no good at all : And even so the authors and actors of such
broad jests get nothing thereby but an opinion and imputation
of a malicious disposition and impure scurrility: and to the
hearers there accrueth no good nor profit at all.

At other times and in other places, I hold well with it, and
grant that to jest with friends and move laughter is tolerable
enough: but surely the liberty of speech then ought to be
serious and modest, shewing a good intention without any
purpose to gall or sting. And if it do concern weighty affairs
indeed, let the words be so set and couched, the affection so
appear, the countenance be so composed, and the gesture so
ordered, and the voice so tuned, that all concurring together
may win credit to the speech, and be effectual to move. But
as in all things else, fit opportunity overslipt and neglected doth
much hurt; so especially it is the occasion that the fruit of free
speech is utterly lost, in case it be omitted and forgotten. More-
over this is evident, that we must take heed how we speak
broad at a table where friends be met together to drink wine
liberally and to make good cheer: for he that amid pleasant
discourses and merry talk moveth a speech that causeth bending
and knitting of brows, or others, maketh men to frown and be
frowning, he doth as much as overcast fair weather with a black
and dark cloud; opposing himself unto that god Lyaeus,^ who
by good right hath that name, as Pindarus the poet saith:

For that the cord he doth imtie
Of cares that breed anxiety.

Besides, this neglect of opportunity bringeth with it great
* Some read Lydius?

86 Plutarch's Morals

danger; for that our minds and spirits, kindled once with wine,
are easy enflamed with choler; yea, and oftentimes it falleth
out, that a man after he hath taken his drink well, when he
thinketh but to use his freedom of tongue for to give some
wholesome advertisement and admonition, ministreth occasion
of great enmity. And to say all in few words, it is not the part
of a generous, confident, and resolute heart, but rather of a
craven kind and unmanly, to forbear plain speech when men
are sober, and to keep a-barking at the board, like unto those
cowardly cur dogs who never snarl but about a bone under the
table. And now of this point, needless it is to discourse any
longer.

But forasmuch as many men neither will nor dare control
and reform their friends when they do amiss, so long as they
be in prosperity; as being of opinion that such admonition can-
not have access nor reach into a fortunate state that standeth
upright; and yet the same persons when men are falling, are
ready to lay them along, and being once down, to make a foot-
ball of them, or tread them under feet, or else keep them so
when they be once under the hatches, giving their liberty of
speech full scope to run over them all at once; as a breakwater
which having been kept up perforce against the nature and
course thereof, is now let go, and the flood-gates drawn up;
rejoicing at his change and infortunity of theirs, in regard as
well of their pride and arrogancy, who before disdained and
despised them; as also of themselves, who are but in mean
and low estate: it were not impertinent to this place for to
discourse a little of this matter, and to answer that verse of
Euripides:

When fortune doth upon men smile,
What need have they of friends the while ?

Namely, that even then when as they seem to have fortune at
command, they stand in most necessity, and ought to have their
friends about them, to pluck down their plumes and bring under
their haughtiness of heart, occasioned by prosperity: for few
there be who with their outward felicity continue wise and sober
in mind, breaking not forth into insolence; yea, and many
there are who have need of wit, discretion and reason to be put
into them from without, to abate and depress them being set
agog and puffed up with the favours of fortune: But say that
the divine power do change and turn about, and overthrow
their state, or clip their wings and diminish their greatness and
authority, then these calamities of themselves are scourges

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 87

sufficient, putting them in mind of their errors, and working
repentance: and then in such distress there is no use at all
either of friends to speak unto them frankly, or of pinching
and biting speeches, to molest and trouble them, but to say a
truth, in these mutations

It greatly doth content our minds
To see the face of pleasant friends,

who may yield consolation, comfort and strength to a distressed
heart, like as Xenophon doth write, that in battles and the
greatest extremities of danger, the amiable visage and cheerful
countenance of Clearchus being once seen of the soldiers,
encouraged them much more to play the men and fight lustily:
whereas he that useth unto a man distressed, such plain speech
as may gall and bite him more, doth as much as one who unto
a troubled and inflamed eye applieth some quick eye-salve or
sharp drug that is proper for to clear the sight : by which means
he cureth not the infirmity beforesaid, neither doth he mitigate
or allay the pain, but unto sorrow and grief of mind already
addeth anger moreover, and doth exasperate a wounded heart.
And verily so long as a man is in the latitude of health, he
is not so testy, froward, and impatient, but that he will in some
sort give ear unto his friend, and think him neither rough nor
altogether rude and uncivil, in case he tell him of his looseness
of life, how he is given too much either unto women or wine;
or if he find fault with his idleness and sitting still, or contrari-
wise his excessive exercise; if he reprove him for haunting
so often the bains or hot-houses, and never lying out of them,
or blame him for gormandise and belly cheer, or eating at
undue hours. But if he be once sick, then it is a death unto
him and a grief insupportable, which doth aggravate his malady,
to have one at his bedside sounding ever in his ears; See what
comes of your drunkenness, your idleness, your surfeiting and
gluttony, your wenching and lechery, these are the causes of
your disease. But what will the sick man say again: Away,
good sir, with these unseasonable words of yours: you trouble
me much, and do me no good iwis: I am about making my
last will and testament ; my physicians are busy preparing and
tempering a potion of scammony, or a drink of castoreum for me:
and you come preaching unto me with your philosophical reasons
and admonitions to chastise me: I have no need of them now,
nor of such friends as you. Semblably it fareth with those
who are fallen to decay and be down the wind ; for capable they

88 Plutarch's Morals

be not of sententious saws ; they have no need as the case now
stands of free reprehensions: then lenity and gentle usage, aid
and comfort are more meet for them. For even so, kind nurses
when their little babes and infants have caught a fall, run not
by and by to rate or chide them, but to take them up, wash and
make them clean where they were berayed, and to still them by
all means that they can; afterwards they rebuke and chastise
them for looking no better to their feet.

It is reported of Demetrius the Phalerian, when being banished
out of his country, he lived at Thebes in mean estate and very
obscurely, that at the first he was not well pleased to see Crates
the philosopher, who came to visit him, as looking ever when he
would begin with some rough words unto him, according to that
liberty of speech which those cynic philosophers then used : but
when he heard Crates once speak kindly unto him, and discours-
ing after a mild manner of the state of his banishment : namely,
that there was no misery fallen unto him by that means, nor
any calamity at all, for which he should vex and torment himself;
but rather that he had cause to rejoice, in that he was sequestered
and delivered from the charge and management of such affairs
as were ticklish, mutable and dangerous; and withal exhorting
him to pluck up his heart, and be of good cheer, yea, and repose
all his comfort in his own self and a clear conscience. Then
Demetrius being more lightsome, and taking better courage,
turned to his friends and said, Shame take those affairs and
businesses; out upon those troublesome and restless occupa-
tions, which have kept me from the knowledge and acquaintance
of such a worthy man : For

If men be in distress and grief,
Sweet words of friends do bring relief:
But foolish sots in all their actions.
Have need eftsoons of sharp corrections.

And verily this is the manner of generous and gentle friends;
but other base-minded and abject fellows, who flatter and fawn
whiles fortune doth smile; like unto old ruptures, spasms, and
cramps (as Demosthenes saith) do then stir and shew them-
selves, when any new accident happeneth unto the body, so
they also stick close to every change and alteration of fortune,
as being glad thereof, and taking pleasure and contentment
therein. For, say that a man afflicted were to be put in mind
of his fault and misgovemment of himself, by reason that he
hath taken lewd courses and followed ill counsel, and so fallen

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 89

into this or that inconvenience, it were sufficient to say thus
unto him:

You never took by mine advice this course,
Against the same how oft did I discourse?

In what cases and occurrences, then, ought a friend to be
earnest and vehement? and when is he to use his liberty of
speech, and extend it to the full? even then, when occasion is
offered, and the time serveth best to repress excessive pleasure,
to restrain unbridled choler, to refrain intolerable pride and
insolency, to stay insatiable avarice, or to stand against any
foolish habitude and inconsiderate motion. Thus Solon spake
freely unto King Croesus, when he saw how he was clean cor-
rupted, and grown beyond all measure arrogant upon the opinion
that he had of his felicity in this world, which was uncertain,
advertising him to look unto the end. Thus Socrates clipped
the wings of Alcibiades, and by convincing his vice and error,
caused him to weep bitterly, and altered quite the disposition of
his heart. Such were the remonstrances and admonitions of
Cyrus to Cyaxares, and of Plato to Dion, even when he was in
his greatest ruff, in the very height of his glory: when (I say)
all men's eyes were upon him, for his worthy acts and great
success in all affairs, willing him even then to take heed and
beware of arrogancy and self-conceit, as being the vice that
dwelleth in the same house together with solitude (that is to
say) which maketh a man to live apart from the whole world.
And to the same effect wrote Speusippus also unto him, when
he bade him look to himself, and not take a pride and presume
much upon this; That there was no talk among women and
children but of him; rather that he should have a care so to
adorn Sicily with religion and piety towards the gods, with
justice and good laws in regard of men, that the school of the
academy might have honour and credit by him. Contrariwise,
Euctaeus and Eulaeus, two minions and favourites of King
Perseus, who followed his vein and pleased his humour in all
things, like other courtiers of his, all the while that he flourished,
and so long as the world went on his side : but after he had lost
the field in a battle against the Romans, fought near the city
Pydna, and was fled, they let fly at him gross terms and reproach-
ful speeches, bitterly laying to his charge all the misdemeanours
and faults that he had before committed, casting in his dish
those persons whom he had evil in treated or despised; which
they ceased not to do so long, until the man (partly for sorrow.

90 Plutarch's Morals

and partly for anger) was so moved, that he stabbed them both
with his dagger, and slew them in the place.

Thus much in general may suffice to determine and define
as touching the opportunity of free speech to friends: mean-
while a faithful and careful friend must not reject such occasions
as many times are presented unto him by them, but to take
hold thereof quickly, and make good use of them: for other-
whiles it falleth out, that a demand or question asked, a narra-
tion related, a reprehension or commendation of like things in
other persons, open the door and make way for us to enter, and
giveth us leave to speak frankly. After this manner it is said
that Demaratus took his vantage to utter his mind freely: who
coming upon a time from Corinth to Macedonia, whenas King
Philip was in some terms of dissension with his wife and son,
was friendly received by Philip and bidden kindly welcome.
Now after salutations and other compliments passed between,
the king asked him whether the Greeks were at accord and
unity one with another? Demaratus, as he was a friend very
inward with him, and one that loved him heartily, answered
thus; It becometh you well indeed, sir, to enquire of the concord
and agreement between the Athenians and the Peloponnesians,
when in the meanwhile you suffer your own house to be full of
domestical quarrels and debates. Well did Diogenes likewise,
who being come into the camp of King Philip, when he had an
expedition or journey against the Greeks, was taken and brought
before the king, who not knowing what he was, demanded of
him if he were not a spy: Yes, marry (quoth he), and come I
am to spy out your inconsiderate folly (0 Philip) and want of
forecast, who being not urged nor compelled by any man, are
come thus far to hazard in one hour the state of your kingdom
and your own life, and to lay all upon the chance and cast of
a die.

But some man peradventure will say. This was a speech some-
what with the sharpest, and too much biting. Moreover,
another fit time and occasion there is of admonition, when those
whom we mind to reprove, having been reproached and taunted
already by others for some faults which they committed, are
become submiss and cast down to our hands. Which oppor-
tunity a wise and skilful friend will not omit, but make especial
good use of: namely, by seeming in open place to check those
that thus have slandered them, yea, and to repulse and put
back such opprobrious imputations, but privately he will take
his friend apart by himself, and put him in mind to live more

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 9 1

warily and give no such offence, if for no other thing else; yet
because his enemies should not take vantage, and bear them-
selves insolently against him: For how shall they be able to
open their mouths against you, and what misword can they
have to say unto you, if you would leave these things and cast
them behind you, for which you hear ill and are grown to some
obloquy? In this sort if the matter be handled, all the offence
that was taken shall light upon the head of the first slanderer,
and the profit shall be attributed unto the other that gave the
friendly advertisement, and he shall go away with all the
thanks.

Some there be, moreover, who after a more cleanly and fine
manner in speaking of others, admonish their own familiar
friends : for they will accuse strangers in their hearing for those
faults which they know them to commit, and by this means
reclaim them from the same. Thus Ammonius, our master,
perceiving when he gave lecture in the afternoon that some of
us his scholars had taken a larger dinner, and eaten more than
was meet for students, commanded a servant of his affranchised
to take up his own son and to beat him, and why so? He
cannot forsooth make his dinner (quoth he) but he must have
some vinegar to his meat. And in saying so, he cast his eye
upon us, in such sort that as many as were culpable took them-
selves to be rebuked, and thought that he meant them.

Furthermore, this good regard would be observed, that we
never use this fashion of free speech, and reproving our friend
in the presence of many persons, but we must remember that
which befel unto Plato: for when upon a time Socrates in a
disputation held at the table inveighed somewhat too bitterly
against one of his familiars before them all: Had it not been
better (quoth Plato) to have told him of this privately, but thus
to shame him before all this company ? But Socrates taking him
presently therewith, And you also might have done better to have
said this to myself, when you had found me alone. Pythagoras
by report gave such hard terms by way of reproof to one of
ais scholars and acquaintance, in the hearing of many, that the
young man for very grief of heart was weary of his life and
langed himself. But never would Pythagoras after to his
iying day reprove or admonish any man, if another were in
)lace.

And to say a truth, as well the detection as the correction of
I sin ought to be secret, and not in public place, like as the dis-
covery and cure also of some filthy and foul disease: it must

92 Plutarch's Morals

not, I say, be done in the view of the world (as if some shew
or pomp were to be exhibited unto the people) with calling
witnesses or spectators thereto. For it is not the part of a
friend, but a trick of some sophister, to seek for glory in other
men's faults, and affect outward shew and vain ostentation in
the presence of others: much like to these mountebank chirur-
geons, who for to have the greater practice, make shew of their
cunning casts and operations of their art in public theatres,
with many gesticulations of their handiwork. Moreover, besides
that there should no infamy grow to him that is reproved (which
indeed is not to be allowed in any cure or remedy), there ought
also to be some regard had of the nature of vice and sin, which
for the most part of itself is opinionative, contentious, stubborn,
and apt to stand to it, and make means of defence. For as
Euripides saith,

We daily see not only wanton love

Doth press the more when one doth it reprove.

But any vice whatsoever it be and every imperfection, if a man
do reprove it in public place before many, and spare not at all,
putteth on the nature of impudence and tumeth to be shame-
less: like as therefore Plato giveth a precept, that elder folk,
if they would imprint shame and grace in their young children,
ought themselves first to shew shamefast behaviour among
them ; even so, the modest and bashful liberty of speech which
one friend useth, doth strike also a great shame in another.
Also to come and approach by little and little unto one that
offendeth, and after a doubting manner with a kind of fear to
touch him, is the next way to undermine the vice that he is prone
and given unto, whiles he cannot choose but be modestly dis-
posed, who is so modestly and gently entreated. And therefore
it would be always very good in those reprehensions to observe
what he did, who in like case reproving a friend.

Held head full close unto his ear.
That no man else but he might hear.

But less seemly and convenient it is for to discover the fault
of the husband before his wife; of a father in the presence of
his sons; of a lover before his love; or of a schoolmaster in
the hearing of his scholars: that were enough to put them
beside their right wits for anger and grief when they shall see
themselves checked and discredited before those of whom they
desire to be best esteemed.
And verily of this mind I am, that it was not the wine so

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 93

much that set King Alexander in such a chafe and rage against
Clitus when he reproved him, as for that he did it in the presence
and hearing of so many. Aristomenes also, the master and
tutor of King Ptolemaeus, for that in the sight of an ambassador
he awaked him out of a sleep, and willed him to give ear unto
the embassage that was delivered, ministered unto his evil-
willers and the flatterers about the court great vantage, who there-
upon took occasion to seem discontented in the king's behalf,
and thus to say: What if after so many travels that your
majesty doth undergo, and your long watching for our sakes,
some sleep do overtake you otherwhiles; our part it were to
tell you of it privately, and not thus rudely to lay hand as it
were upon your person in the presence of so many men. Where-
upon Ptolemaeus being moved at these suggestions, sent unto
the man a cup of poison, with commandment that he should
drink it off. Aristophanes also caste th this in Cleon his teeth:

For that when strangers were in place
Tbe town with terms he did disgrace,

and thereby provoke the Athenians and bring their high dis-
pleasure upon him. And therefore this regard would be had
especially above all others, that when we would use our liberty
of speech, we do it not by way of ostentation in a vainglory to
be popular, and to get applause, but only with an intention to
profit and do good, yea and to cure some infirmity thereby.

Over and besides that which Thucydides reporteth of the
Corinthians, how they gave out of themselves and not unfitly,
that it belonged unto them, and meet men they were to reprove
others; the same ought they to have in them that will take
upon them to be correctors of other persons. For like as
Lysander answered to a certain Megarian who put himself
forward in an assembly of associates and allies to speak frankly
for the liberty of Greece: These words of yours (my friend)
would beseem to have been spoken by some puissant state or
city; even so it may be said to every one that will seem freely
to reprehend another, that he had need himself to be in manners
well reformed. And this most truly ought to be inferred upon
all those that will seem to chastise and correct others, namely,
to be wiser and of better government than the rest: for thus
Plato protested that he reformed Speusippus by example of his
own life: and Xenocrates likewise casting but his eye upon
Polemon, who was come into his school like a ruffian, by his very
look only reclaimed him from his loose life: whereas on the

94 Plutarch's Morals

contrary side, if a light and lewd person, one that is full of bad
conditions himself, would seem to find fault with others and be
busy with his tongue, he must be sure always to hear this on
both sides of his ears:

Himself all full of sores impure
Will others seem to heal and cure.

Howbeit, forasmuch as oftentimes the case standeth so, that
by occasion of some affairs we be driven to chastise those with
whom we converse, when we ourselves are culpable and no better
than they: the most cleanly and least offensive way to do it
is this, To acknowledge in some sort that we be likewise faulty
and to include and comprehend our own persons together with
them; after which manner is that reproof in Homer:

Sir Diomede, what aileth us?
: How is it come about?

That we should thus forget to fight,
Who erst were thought so stout ?

Also in another place :

And now we all unworthy are
With Hector only to compare.

Thus Socrates mildly and gently would seem to reprove young

men, making semblance as if himself were not void of ignorance,

but had need also to be instructed in virtue, and professing that

he had need with them to search for the knowledge of truth:

for such commonly do win love and credit, yea, and sooner

shall be believed, who are thought subject to the same faults,

and seem willing to correct their friends like as they do their

own selves; whereas he who spreadeth and displayeth his own

wings, in clipping other men's, justifying himself as if he were

pure, sincere, faultless, and without all affections and infirmities,

unless he be much elder than we, or in regard of some notable

and approved virtue in far higher place of authority and in

greater reputation than ourselves, he shall gain no profit nor

do any good, but be reputed a busybody and troublesome person.

And therefore it was not without just cause that good Phoenix

in speaking to Achilles alleged his own misfortunes, and namely

how in a fit of choler he had like one day to have killed his own

father, but that suddenly he bethought himself and changed his

mind,

Lest that among the Greeks I should be nam'd
A parricide, and ever after sham'd:

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 95

wliich he did no doubt to this end. because he would not seem
in chiding him to arrogate this praise unto himself, that he was
not subject to anger, nor had ever done amiss by occasion of
that infirmity and passion. Certes such admonitions as these
enter and pierce more effectually into the heart, for that they
are thought to proceed from a tender compassion; and more
willing are we to yield unto such as seem to have suffered the
like, than to those that despise and contemn us. But forasmuch
as neither the eye when it is inflamed can abide any clear and
shining light, nor a passionate mind endure frank speech, or a
plain and bare reprehension, one of the best and most profitable
helps in this case is to intermingle therewith a little praise, as
we read thus in Homer:

Now (sure) methinks you do not well,

Thus for to leave the field,
Who all are known for doughty knights,

And best with spear and shield.
A coward if I saw to flee,

Him would I not reprove:
But such as you, thus for to shrink,

My heart doth greatly move.

Likewise :

O Pandar, where is now thy bow,

Where are thine arrows flight ;
Where is that honour, in which none

With thee dare strive in fight ?

And verily such oblique reprehensions also as these, are most
effectual and wonderful in reclaiming those that be ready to
run on end, and fall to some gross enormities: as for example:

What is become of wise QEdipus,

In riddles a-reading who was so famous ?

Also:

And Hercules, who hath endur'd such pain,
Speaks he these words, so foolish and so vain ?

For this kind of dealing doth not only assuage and mitigate the
roughness and commanding power that is in a reprehension and
rebuke, but also breedeth in the party in such sort reproved, a
certain emulation of himself, causing him to be abashed and
ashamed for any follies and dishonest pranks, when he remem-
breth and calleth to mind his other good parts and commendable
acts, which by this means he setteth before his eyes, as examples,
and so taketh himself for a pattern and precedent of better
things : But when we make comparison between him and others.

96

Plutarch's Morals

to witj his equals in age, his. fellow-citizens, or kinsfolk; then
his vice, which in the own nature is stubborn and opinionative
enough, becometh by that means more fro ward and exasperate,
and oftentimes he will not stick in a fume and chafe to fling
away, and grumble in this wise, Why go you not then to those
that are so much better than I ? why can you not let me alone,
but thus trouble me as you do? And therefore we must take
heed especially, that whiles we purpose to tell one plainly of
his faults, we do not praise others, unless haply they be his
parents: as Agamemnon did unto Diomedes:

A son (iwis) Sir Tideus left behind,

Unlike himself, and much grown out of kind.

And Ulysses in the tragedy entituled Scyrii :

You, sir, whose father was a knight.

The best that ever drew
A sword, of all the Greeks, in field.

And many a captain slew.
Sit you here carding like a wench,

Ajid spinning wool on rock.
Thereby the glorious light to quench

Of your most noble stock ?

But most unseemly it were and undecent of all other, if when
one is admonished by his friend, he should fall to admonish him
again; and being told freely of his fault, serve him the like,
and quit him with as much: for this is the next way to kindle
coals, and to make variance and discord ; and in one word verily,
such a rejecting and spurning again as this, may seem in effect
to bewray, not a reciprocal liberty of rendering one for another,
but rather a peevish mind that can abide no manner of reproof.
Better therefore it is to endure patiently for the time, a friend
that telleth us plainly of our faults; and if himself afterwards
chance to offend and have need of the like reprehension, this
after a sort giveth free liberty unto him that was rebuked afore,
to use the same liberty of speech again unto the other: For
calling to mind by this occasion, without any remembrance of
old grudge and former injury, that himself also was wont not
to neglect his friends when they did amiss and forgat themselves,
but took pains to reprove, redress, and teach them how to
amend, he will the sooner yield a fault, and receive that chastise-
ment and correction, which he shall perceive to be a retribution
of like love and kindness, and not a requital of complaint and
anger.

Moreover, like as Thucydides saith. That the man is wise and

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 97

well advised, who incurreth the envy of men for matters of
greatest weight and importance; even so we say: That if a
friend will adventure the danger and heavy load and ill will for
blaming his friends, he must make choice of such matters as be
of great moment and much consequence: for if he will take
exceptions at every trifle and little thing indifferent; if he will
seem evermore to be finding fault, and carry himself not like a
kind and affectionate friend, but a precise, severe, and imperious
schoolmaster, to spy all faults, and correct every point and
tittle; certes, he shall find afterwards, that his admonitions,
even for the greatest offences, shall not be regarded, nor any
whit effectual : for that he hath used already to no purpose, his
frank reprehension (the sovereign remedy for gross and main
faults) in many others that are but slight, and not worthy
reproof: much like unto a physician, who hath employed and
spent a medicine that is strong and bitter, howbeit, necessary
and costly, in small infirmities, and of no reckoning to speak of.
A friend therefore is to look unto this ; That it be not an ordinary
matter with him to be always quarrelsome, and desirous to find
one fault or other. And if peradventure he meet with such a
companion as is apt to search narrowly into all light matters, to
cavil and wrangle for everything, and ready to raise calumnia-
tions like a petty sycophant for toys and trifles, he may take
the better advantage and occasion thereby for to reprove him
again, in case he chance to fail in greater and more gross faults.
Philotimus the physician answered prettily unto one, who
having an impostume grown to suppuration about his liver,
shewed unto him a finger that was sore, and troubled with some
blister or whitflaw, and desired his counsel for the same: My
good friend (quoth he), the disease that you are to look unto
is not a whitflaw nor about your nail root; even so, there may
be occasion and opportunity offered unto a friend, to say unto
one that ever and anon is finding fault, and reproving small
errors not worth the noting, to wit, sports and pastimes, feasting
and merry meeting, or such- like trifling tricks of youth: Good
sir, let us find the means rather, that this man whom you thus
blame may cast off the harlot that he keeps, or give over his dice-
playing; for otherwise he is a man of excellent and wonderful
5ood parts. For he that perceiveth how he is tolerated or
A^inked at, yea, and pardoned in small matters, will not be
jnwilling that a friend should use his liberty in reproving his
greater vices: whereas he that is evermore urgent upon one,
Dressing and lying hard unto him ; always bitter and unpleasant.

98

Plutarch's Morals

prying and looking into every corner, and taking knowledge
of all things: such an one (I say) there is neither child nor
brother will endure; nay, he is intolerable to his very servants:
But like as Euripides saith:

All is not naught that old age brings.
We may in it find some good things.

No more is the folly of friends so bad but that we may pick
some goodness out of them: we ought therefore to observe
diligently, not only when they do amiss, but also when they do
well: and verily at the first to be willing and most ready to
praise: but afterwards we must do as the smiths who temper
iron: For when they have given it a fire, and made it by that
means soft, loose, and pliable, they drench and dip it in cold
water, whereby it becometh compact and hard, taking thereby
the due temperature of stiff steel; even so, when we perceive that
our friends be well heat and relaxed (as it were) by hearing
themselves praised by us, then we may come upon them by
little and little with a tincture (as I may so say) of reproof, and
telling them of their faults. Then will it be a fit time to speak
unto a friend thus: How say you, are these pranks worthy to
be compared with those parts? See you not the fruits that
come of virtue? Lo, what we your friends require of you:
these are the duties and offices which are beseeming your
person: for these hath nature made and framed you. As for
those lewd courses, fie upon them :

Send such away, confine them far.

Unto the mountain wild,
Or into roaring sea, from land

Let them be quite exil'd.

For like as an honest-minded and discreet physician will choose
rather to cure the malady of his patient by rest and sleep, or
by good nutriture and diet, than by castoreum or scammonium :
even so, a kind and courteous friend, a good father and gentle
schoolmaster, taketh pleasure and joyeth more to use praises
than reproofs, in the reformation of manners. For there is
nothing that maketh the man who boldly findeth fault with
his friends to be so little offensive unto them, or to do more
good and cure them better, than to be void of anger, and to
seem after a mild sort in all love and affectionate goodwill to
address himself unto them, when they do amiss. And therefore
neither ought he to urge them overmuch, and seem too eagerly
to convince them if they deny the thing, nor yet to debar them

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend 99

of liberty to make their answer and clear themselves : but rather
to help them out, and after a sort to minister unto them some
honest and colourable pretences, to excuse and justify their
facts: and when a man seeth them do amiss by reason of some
worse cause indeed, to lay the fault upon another occasion that
is more tolerable. As Hector when he said unto Paris:

Unhappy man, alas, you do not well
To bear in breast a heart so fell.

As if his brother's retire out of battle and refusal to combat
with Menelaus, had not been a mere flight and running away,
but very anger and a curst stomach. Likewise Nestor unto
Agamemnon :

But you gave place unto your haughty mind:
And feed those fits which come to you by kind.

?or in mine advice a more mild reprehension is this than to
lave said: This was injuriously done of you, or this was a
;hameful and villanous part of yours; As also to say unto
me, You could not tell what you did; you thought not of it;
')T you were altogether ignorant what would come thereof, is
)etter and more civil than bluntly to charge him and say:
' This was a mere wrong, and a wicked act of yours. Also thus,
)o not contest and quarrel in this wise with your brother, is
1 ess offensive than to say: Deal not thus enviously and spitefully
i gainst your brother: Likewise it were a more gentle manner
< f reproof to say unto a man : Avoid this woman that spoileth
{ nd abuseth you ; than thus : Give over this woman, spoil
{ nd abuse her no more. Thus you see what means are to
1 e used in this liberty of speech, when a friend would cure a
I lalady.

But for to prevent the same, there would be practised a
c lean contrary course : for when it behoveth to avert and turn
c ar friends from committing a fault, whereto they are prone
aid inclined; or to withstand some violent and disordinate
I assion, which carrieth them a clean contrary way; or when we
a re desirous to incite and stir them forward unto good things,
I sing of themselves slow and backward : when, I say, we would
g ve an edge unto them, who are otherwise dull, and heat them
t nng cold, we ought to transfer the thing or act in hand to
s )me absurd causes, and those that be unseemly and undecent.
Thus Ulysses pricked on Achilles in a certain tragedy of

loo Plutarch's Morals

Sophocles, when he said thus unto him: It is not for a supper,
Achilles, that you are so angry, but

For that you have already seen
The walls of Troy, your fearful teen.

And when upon these words Achilles took greater indignation,
and chafed more and more, saying, that he would not sail
forward but be gone back again, he came upon him a second
time with this rejoinder: '"-" . *-. ; "- -

I wot well why you gladly would depart:
'Tis not because at checks or taimts you chafe,
But Hector is not far: he kills your heart;
For dread of him to stay it is not safe.

By this means when we scar a valiant and hardy man with the
opinion of cowardice; an honest, chaste, and civil person with
the note of being reputed loose and incontinent; also a liberal
and sumptuous magnifico with the fear to be accounted a
niggard or a mechanical micher; we do mightily incite them to
well-doing, and chase them from bad ways. And like as when
a thing is done and past, and where there is no remedy, there
should be borne a modest and temperate hand, in such sort that
in our liberty of speech we seem to shew more commiseration,
pity and fellow-grief of mind for the fault of a friend, than eager
reprehension; so contrariwise where it stands upon this point
that he should not fault, where (I say) our drift is to fight against
the motion of his passions, there we ought to be vehement,
inexorable, and never to give over nor yield one jot unto them.
And this is the very time when we are to shew that love of ours
and goodwill which is constant, settled, and sure, and to use
our true liberty of speech to the full. For to reprove faults
already committed, we see it is an ordinary thing among arrant
enemies. To which purpose said Diogenes very well; That a
man who would be an honest man ought to have either very
good friends, or most shrewd and bitter enemies: for as they
do teach and instruct, so these are ready to find fault and
reprove.

Now far better it is for one to abstain from evil doing, in
believing and following the sound counsel of his friends, than
to repent afterwards of ill doing, when he seeth himself blamed
and accused by his enemies. And therefore if it were for nothing
else but this, great discretion and circumspection would be used
in making remonstrances and speaking freely unto friends : and
so much the rather, by how much it is the greater and stronger

To Discern a Flatterer from a Friend i o i

remedy that friendship can use, and hath more need to be
used in time and place convenient, and more wisely to be tem-
pered with a mean and mediocrity.

Now forasmuch as I have said sundry times already, that all
reprehensions whatsoever are dolorous unto him that receiveth
them; we ought in this case to imitate good physicians and
chirurgeons: for when they have made incision or cut any
member, they leave not the place in pain and torment still, but
use certain fomentations and lenitive infusions to mitigate the
anguish: No more do they that after a civil manner have chid
or rebuked, run away presently so soon as they have bitten
and pricked the party, but by changing their manner of speech,
entertain their friends thus galled and wounded, with other
more mild and pleasant discourses; to assuage their grief and
refresh their heart again that is cast down and discomforted:
and I may well compare them to these cutters and carvers of
images, who after they have rough hewn and scabbled over
certain pieces of stone for to make their statues of, do polish
and smooth them fair, yea and give them a lightsome lustre.
But if a man be stung and nipped once, or touched to the quick
by some objurgatory reprehension, and so left rough, uneven,
disquieted, swelling and puffing for anger, he is ever after hardly
quieted or reclaimed, and no consolation will serve the turn
to appease and comfort him again. And therefore they who
reprove and admonish their friends, ought to observe this rule
ibove all others; Not to forsake them immediately when they
lave so done, nor to break off their conference suddenly, or to
conclude their speech with any word that might grieve and
)rovoke them.

OF MEEKNESS, OR HOW A MAN SHOULD
REFRAIN CHOLER

A TREATISE IN MANNER OF A DIALOGUE
The persons that be the Speakers : Sylla and Fundanus

THE SUMMARY OF THE DIALOGUE

[After we are taught how to discern a flatterer from a friend, it
seemeth that this treatise, as touching mildness and how we ought
to bridle anger, was set here in his proper place. For like as we
may soon err grossly in choice of those whom we are willing and
well content to have about us, and in that respect are to be circum-
spect, and to stand upon our guard; so we have no less cause to
consider how we should converse among our neighbours. Now of
all those vices and imperfections which defame man's life, and cause
the race and course thereof to be difficult and wondrous painful to
pass, anger is one of those which are to be ranged in the first rank;
in such sort that it booteth not to be provided of good friends, if
this furious humour get the mastery over us: like as contrariwise
flatterers and such other pestilent plagues have not so easy entrance
into us, nor such ready means to be possessed of us, so long as we
be accompanied with a certain wise and prudent mildness. In this
discourse then, our author, doing the part of an expert physician,
laboureth to purge our minds from all choler, and would train them
to modesty and humanity, so far forth as philosophy moral is able
to perform. And for to attain unto so great a benefit, he sheweth
in the first place that we ought to procure our friends for to observe
and mark our imperfections, that by long continuance of time we
may accustom ourselves to hold in our judgment by the bit of
reason. After certain proper similitudes serving for this purpose,
and a description of the inconveniences and harms that come by
wrath, he proveth that it is an easy matter to restrain and repress
the same: to which purpose he setteth down divers means, upon
which he discourseth after his usual manner, that is to say, with
reasons and inductions, enriched with notable similitudes and
examples: afterwards, having spoken of the time and manner of
chastising and correcting those who are under our power and
governance, he proposeth as well certain remedies to cure choler,
as preservatives to keep us from relapse into it again : Which done,
he representeth ire lively, as in a painted table, to the end that those
who suffer themselves to be surprised therewith, may be abashed
and ashamed of their unhappy state: and therewith he giveth five

Of Meekness 103

notable advertisements for to attain thereto, which be as it were
preservatives: by means whereof we should not feel ourselves
attaint any more with this malady.]

Sylla. It seemeth unto me (0 Fundanus) that painters do
very well and wisely to view and consider their works often and
by times between, before they think them finished and let them
go out of their hands: for that by setting them so out of their
sight, and then afterwards having recourse thither again to
judge thereof, they make their eyes (as it were) new judges, to
spy and discern the least fault that is, which continual looking
thereupon, and the ordinary view of one and the same thing
doth cover and hide from them. But forasmuch as it is not
possible that a man should depart from himself for a time, and
after a certain space return again; nor that he should break,
interrupt and discontinue his understanding and sense within
(which is the cause that each man is a worse judge of himself
than of others). A second means and remedy therefore in this
case would be used : namely, to review his friends sundry times,
and eftsoons likewise to yield himself to be seen and beheld by
them; not so much to know thereby whether he aged apace
and grow soon old ; or whether the constitution of his body be
better or worse than it was before, as to survey and consider
his manners and behaviour, to wit, whether time hath added
iny good thing, or taken away ought that is bad and naught.
For mine own part, this being now the second year since I came
irst to this city of Rome, and the fifth month of mine acquaint-
ince with you, I think it no great wonder, that considering your
;owardness and the dexterity of your nature, those good parts
vhich were already in you, have gotten so great an addition
. ind be so much increased, as they are : but when I see how that
'ehement inclination and ardent motion of yours to anger,
thereunto by nature you were given, is by the guidance of
) eason become so mild, so gentle and tractable, it cometh into
1 ly mind to say thereunto that which I read in Homer :

Hr

O what a wondrous change is here?
Much milder are you than you were.

J .nd verily this gentleness and meekness of yours is not turned
i ito a certain sloth, and general dissolution of your vigour: but
1 ke as a piece of ground well tilled, lieth light and even, and
\ asides more hollow than before, which maketh much for the
f rtility thereof; even so, your nature hath gotten instead of
t \at violent disposition and sudden propension unto choler, a

I04 Plutarch's Morals

certain equality and profundity, serving greatly to the manage-
ment of affairs, whereby also it appeareth plainly that it is not
long of the decaying strength of the body, by reason of declining
age, neither yet of the own accord, that your hastiness and
choleric passion is thus faded, but rather by means of good
reasons and instructions well cured. And yet verily (for unto you
I will be bold to say the truth) at the first I suspected and
could not well believe Eros our familiar friend, when he made
this report of you unto me; as doubting that he was ready to
give this testimony of you in regard of affection and goodwill,
bearing me in hand of those things which were not indeed in
you, but ought to be in good and honest men: and yet (as you
know well enough) he is not such a man, as for favour of any
person, and for to please, can be easily persuaded and brought
to say otherwise than he thinketh. But now as he is freed and
acquit from the crime of bearing false witness: so you (since
this journey and travel upon the way affordeth you good leisure)
will (I doubt not) at my request, declare and recount unto us
the order how you did this cure upon yourself; and namely
what medicines and remedies you used, to make that choleric
nature of yours so gentle, so tractable, so soft and supple, so
obeisant (I say) and subject wholly to the rule of reason?

FuNDANUS. But why do you not yourself (0 Sylla), my
dearest and most affectionate friend, take heed, that for the
amity and goodwill which you bear unto me, you be not deceived
and see one thing in me for another? As for Eros, who for his
own part hath not always his anger steadfastly stayed with the
cable and anchor of Homer's Peisa (that is, obedient and abiding
firm in one place), but otherwhiles much moved and out of
quiet, for the hatred that he hath of vice and vicious men it
may very well be, and like it is that unto him I seem more mild
and gentle than before: like as we see in changing and altering
the notes of prick-song, or the gamut in music, certain netce or
notes which are the trebles in one 8 being compared with other
netcB more high and small, become hypatce, that is, the bases.

Sylla. It is neither so nor so (O Fundanus), but of all loves,
do as I desire you, for my sake.

Fundanus. Since it is so (Sylla), among many good advertise-
ments of Musonius which come to my mind, this is one; That
whosoever would live safe and in health, ought all their lifetime
to look to themselves, and be as it were in continual physic. For
I am not of this mind, neither do I think it convenient that like
as elleborus, after it hath done the deed within a sick man's

Of Meekness 105

body and wrought a cure, is cast up again together with the
malady; so reason also should be sent out after the passion
which it hath cured, but it ought to remain still in the mind for
to keep and preserve the judgment. For why ? reason is not to
be compared with medicines and purgative drugs, but rather to
wholesome and nourishing meats, engendering mildly in the
minds of them unto whom it is made familiar, a good complexion
and fast habit together with some perfect health: whereas
admonitions and corrections applied or ministered unto passions
when they swell and rage, and be in the height of their heat
and inflammation, hardly and with much ado work any effect
at all, and if they do, it is with much pain. Neither differ they
in operation from those strong odours which well may raise out
of a fit those who are fallen and be subject to the epilepsy or
falling sickness; but they cure not the disease, nor secure the
patient for falling again: True it is that all other passions of
the mind, if they be taken in hand at the very point and instant
A^hen they are in their highest fury, do yield in some sort, and
;hey admit reason coming from without into the mind for to
lelp and succour, but anger not only, as Melanthius saith, ;■: ■

Commits lewd parts, and reason doth displace
Out of her seat and proper resting-place,

I )Ut also tumeth her clean out of house and home, shutteth and
locketh her out of doors for altogether; nay, it fareth for all
1 he world like to those who set the house on fire over their own
1 eads, and burn themselves and it together: it filleth all within
i all of trouble, smoke, and confused noises, in such sort that it
1 ath neither eye to see, nor ear to listen unto those that would
£ nd might assist and give aid : and therefore sooner will a ship
abandoned of her master in the midst of the sea, and there
1: uUing dangerously in a storm and tempest, receive a pilot from
s )me other ship without, than a man tossed with the waves
0: fury and anger, admit the reason and remonstrance of a
s ranger; unless his own reason at home were beforehand well
p 'epared : But like as they who look for no other but to have
t leir city besieged, gather together and lay up safe their own
s ore and provision, and all things that might serve their turn,
n )t knowing nor expecting any aid or relief abroad during the
si ige ; even so ought we to have our remedies ready and pro-
v ded long before, and the same gathered out of all parts of
p lilosophy and conveyed into the mind for to withstand the
n ge of choler: as being assured of this, that when need and

io6 Plutarch's Morals

necessity requ reth to use them, we shall not easily admit the
same, and suffer them to have entrance into us. For surely
at such a time of extremity, the soul heareth not a word that is
said unto it without, for the trouble and confusion within,
unless her own reason be assistant ready both to receive and
understand quickly every commandment and precept, and also
to prompt the same accordingly unto her. And say that she
doth hear: look what is said unto her after a mild, calm, and
gentle manner, that she despiseth ; again, if any be more instant,
and do urge her somewhat roughly, with those she is displeased,
and the worse for their admonitions: for wrath being of the
own nature proud, audacious, unruly, and hardly suffering
itself to be handled or stirred by another, much like unto a
tyrant attended with a strong guard about his person, ought to
have something of the own which is domestical, familiar, and
(as it were) inbred together with it, for to overthrow and dis-
solve the same.

Now the continual custom of anger and the ordinary or often
falling into a chafe, breedeth in the mind an ill habit called
wrathfulness, which in the end groweth to this pass, that it
maketh a man choleric and hasty, apt to be moved at every-
thing; and besides, it engendereth a bitter humour of revenge,
and a testiness implacable, or hardly to be appeased; namely,
when the mind is exulcerate once, taking offence at every small
occasion, quarrelling and complaining for toys and trifles, much
like unto a thin or a fine edge that entereth with the least force
that the graver putteth it to. But the judgment of reason
opposing itself straightways against such motions and fits of
choler, and ready to suppress and keep them down, is not only
a remedy for the present mischief, but also for the time to come
doth strengthen and fortify the mind, causing it to be more
firm and strong to resist such passions when they arise.

And now to give some instance of myself: The same happened
unto me after I had twice or thrice made head against choler,
as befel sometimes to the Thebans; who having once repelled
and put to flight the Lacedsemonians (warriors thought in those
days invincible) were never in any one battle afterward defeated
by them. For from that time forward I took heart and courage,
as seeing full well that conquered it might be with the discourse
•of reason. I perceived, moreover, that anger would not only
be quenched with cold water poured and cast upon it, as
Aristotle hath reported unto us, but also that it would go out
and be extinguished, were it never so light a fire before, by

Of Meekness 1 07

presenting near unto it some object of fear: nay (I assure you)
by a sudden joy coming upon it unlooked for, in many a man,
according as Homer saith, choler hath melted, dissolved and
evaporated away. And therefore this resolution I made, that
anger was a passion not incurable, if men were willing to be
cured: for surely the occasions and beginnings thereof are not
always great and forcible; but we see that a jest, a scoff, some
sport, some laughter, a wink of the eye, or nod of the head, and
such small matters, hath set many in a pelting chafe: even as
Lady Helena saying no more but thus unto her niece or brother's
daughter at their first meeting,

Electra, virgin, long time since I you saw, etc.,

drave her in such a fit of choler, that therewith she was provoked
to break off her speech with this answer:

Wise now at last, though all too late.

You are, I may well say,
Who whilom left your husband's house.

And ran with shame away.

Likewise Callisthenes mightily offended Alexander with one
word, who when a great bowl of wine went round about the table,
refused it as it came to his turn, saying: I will not (I trow)
drink so to your health, Alexander, that I shall have need
thereby of .^Esculapius {i.e., a physician). A fire that newly
hath caught aflame with hares' or conies' hair, dry leaves, hurds
and light straw, stubble and rakings, it is an easy matter to put
out and quench; but if it have once taken to sound fuel and
such matter as hath solidity, substance and thickness in it,
soon it burneth and consumeth, as ^Eschylus saith:

By climbing up and mounting high
The stately works of carpentry.

Semblably, he that will take heed unto choler at the beginning,
when he seeth it once to smoke or flame out by occasion of some
merry speech, flouting scoffs, and foolish words of no moment,
needs not to strive much about the quenching of it: for many
times if he do no more but hold his peace, or make small account
or none at all of such matters, it is enough to extinguish and
make it go out. For he that ministreth not fuel to fire, putteth
it out; and whosoever feedeth not his anger at the first, and
oloweth not the coals himself, doth cool and repress the same.
\nd therefore Hieronymus the philosopher, although otherwise
le have taught us many good lessons and instructions, yet in

io8 Plutarch's Morals

this point he hath not pleased and satisfied me, when he saith;
That a man is not able to perceive in himself the breeding of
anger (so quick and sudden it is), but only when it is bred, then
it may be felt: for surely there is no vice or passion in us that
giveth such warning, or hath either so evident a generation or so
manifest an augment whiles it is stirred and moved, as anger,
according as Homer himself right skilfully, and as a man of
good experience, giveth us to understand, who bringeth in
Achilles sore moved to sorrow and grief of heart, even with a
word, and at the very instant, when he heard the speeches of
Agamemnon: for thus reporteth the poet of him:

Out of the king his sovereign's mouth.

The word no sooner past,
But straight a black and misty cloud

Of ire him overcast.

But of Agamemnon himself, he saith that it was long ere he
was angry; namely, after he had been kindled with many
hard speeches, that were dealt to and fro, which if any third
person stepping between would have stayed or turned away,
certes their quarrel and debate had not grown to such terms
of extremity as it did. And therefore Socrates so often as he
felt himself somewhat declining and more moved than he should
against any one of his friends, and avoiding as it were a rock in
the sea, before the tempest came and the billows arose, would
let fall his voice, shew a smiling countenance, and compose his
look and visage to mirth and lenity, and thus by bending and
drawing another away to that whereunto his affection inclined,
and opposing himself to a contrary passion, he kept upright on
his feet, so that he fell not, nor was overthrown. For there is
(my good friend) a ready means in the very beginning to break
the force of choler, like as there is a way to dissolve a tyrannical
rule and dominion, that is to say, not to obey at the first, not
to give ear and be ruled by her commandment, when she shall
bid thee to speak and cry out aloud, or to look with a terrible
countenance, or to knock or beat thyself; but to be still and
quiet, and not to reinforce and increase the passion, as men do
exasperate a sickness with struggling, striving, tossing and
roaring out aloud. For those things which ordinary lovers
and amorous young men practise, that is to say, to go in a
wanton and merry mask, to sing and dance at the doors of their
sweethearts and mistresses, to bedeck their windows with
coronets and flower-garlands, bring some ease and alleviation
(such as it is) of their passions, and the same not altogether

Of Meekness 109

undecent and uncivil, according to that which we read in the
poet:

And when I came, aloud I cried not,
And asked who she was, or daughter whose ?
But kist my love full sweetly, that I wot :
If this be sin? but sin I cannot choose.

Also that which we permit those to do who are in sorrow,
namely, to mourn, to lament and weep for losses or mishaps;
certainly with their sighs which they fetch, and tears that they
shed, they do send out and discharge a good part of their grief
and anguish. But it is not so with the passion of anger: for
surely, the more that they stir and speak who are surprised
therewith, the more hot it is, and the flame burneth out the
rather; and therefore the best way is for a man to be quiet,
to fly and keep him out of the way, or else to retire himself into
some haven of surety and repose, when he perceiveth that there
is a fit of anger toward, as if he felt an access of the falling evil
coming. This (I say) we ought to do, for fear lest we fall down,
or rather run and rush upon some one or other. But who be
they that we run upon ? Surely our very friends, for the greatest
part, and those we wrong most. As for our affection of love,
it standeth not to all things indifferently, neither do we hate
nor yet fear we everything alike : But what is it that ire setteth
not upon? nothing is there but it doth assail and lay hands
on ; we are angry with our enemies ; we chafe with our friends ;
with children, with parents we are wrath; nay, the very gods
themselves we forbear not in our choleric mood; we fly upon
dumb and brute beasts; we spare not so much as our utensil
vessels and implements, which have neither sense nor life at all,
if they stand in our way, we fare like Thamyris the musician,

Who brake his comet, finely bound
And tipt with gold : his lute he hent,
Well strung and tun'd to pleasant sound,
And it anon to fitters rent.

Thus did Pandarus also, who cursed, and betook himself to all
the fiends in hell, if he did not burst his bow and arrows with
his own hands, and throw them into the fire when he had so
done. As for Xerxes, he stuck not to whip, to lash and scourge
the sea, and to the mountain Athos he sent his minatory letters
in this form; Thou wretched and wicked Athos, that bear est up
thy head aloft into the sky ; see thou bring forth no great craggy
stones, I advise thee, for my works, and such as be hard to be cut

iio Plutarch's Morals

and wrought : otherwise, if thou do, I shall cut thee through and
tumble thee into the main sea.

Many fearful and terrible things there be that are done in
anger, and as many for them again as foolish and ridiculous,
and therefore of all passions that trouble the mind, it is both
hated and despised most. In which regards expedient it were
to consider diligently as well of the one as the other: for mine
own part, whether I did well or ill, I know not; but surely,
when I began my cure of choler in myself, I did as in old time
the Lacedaemonians were wont to do by their Ilotes, men of
base and servile condition: For as they taught their children
what a foul vice drunkenness was, by their example when they
were drunk, so I learned by observing others what anger was,
and what beastly effects it wrought. First and foremost,
therefore, like as that malady, according to Hippocrates, is of
all others worst and most dangerous wherein the visage of the
sick person is most disfigured and made unlikest itself; so, I
seeing those that were possessed of choler, and (as it were)
beside themselves thereby, how their face was changed, their
colour, their countenance, their gait and their voice quite
altered, I imagined thereupon unto myself a certain form
and image of this malady, as being mightily displeased in
my mind, if haply at any time I should be seen of my friends,
my wife and the little girls my daughters, so terrible and so
far moved and transported beside myself: not only fearful and
hideous to behold, and far otherwise than I was wont, but
also unpleasant to be heard; my voice being rough, rude
and churlish : like as it was my hap to see some of my familiar
friends in that case, who by reason of anger could not retain
and keep their ordinary fashions and behaviour, their form of
visage, nor their grace in speech, nor yet that affability and
pleasantness in company and talk as they were wont.

This was the reason that Caius Gracchus the orator, a man
by nature blunt, rude in behaviour, and withal over-earnest
and violent in his manner of pleading, had a little flute or pipe
made for the nonce, such as musicians are wont to guide and
rule the voice gently by little and little up and down, between
base to treble, according to every note as they would them-
selves, teaching their scholars thereby to have a tunable voice.
Now when Gracchus pleaded at the bar at any time, he had one
of his servants standing with such a pipe behind him: who
observing when his master was a little out of tune, would sound
a more mild and pleasant note unto him, whereby he reclaimed

Of Meekness 1 1 1

and called him back from that loud exclaiming, and so taking
down that rough and swelling accent of his voice,

Like as the neat-herds' pipes so shrill

Made of the marish reeds so light ;
The joints whereof with wax they fill,

Resound a tune for their delight :
Which while the herd in field they keep,
Brings them at length to pleasant sleep,

dulced aiid allayed the choleric passion of the orator. Certes
myself, if I had a pretty page to attend upon me, who were
diligent, necessary and handsome about me, would not be
offended but very well content, that when he saw me angry he
should by and by present a mirror or looking-glass unto me,
such a one as they use to bring and shew unto some that newly
are come out of the bain, although no good or profit at all they
have thereby. But certainly for man to see himself at such
a time, how disquieted he is, how far out of the way, and beside
the course of nature, it were no small means to check this
passion, and to set him in hatred therewith for ever after. They
who are delighted in tales and fables, do report by way of merry
speech and pastime, that once when Minerva was a piping,
there came a satyr and admonished her that it was not for her
to play upon a flute ; but she for the time took no heed to that
advertisement of his, notwithstanding he spake thus unto her:

This form of face becomes you not,
Lay up your pipes, take cirms in hand;

But first this would not be forgot,

Your cheeks to lay, that puft now stand.

But afterwards, when she had seen her face in a certain river,
what a pair of cheeks she had gotten with her piping, she was
displeased with herself and flung away her pipes : And yet this
art and skill of playing well upon the pipe, yieldeth some
comfort and maketh amends for the deformity of a disfigured
visage, with the melodious tune and harmony that it affordeth;
yea and afterwards, Marsyas the minstrel (as it is thought)
devised first with a certain hood and muzzle fastened round
ibout the mouth, as well to restrain and keep down the violence
•>i the blast enclosed thus by force, as also to correct and hide
:he deformity and undecent inequality of the visage :

With glittering gold both cheeks as far

As temples he did bind :
The tender mouth with thongs likewise,

Fast knit the neck behind.

112 Plutarch *s Morals

But anger contrariwise, as it doth puff up and stretch out the
visage after an unseemly manner, so much more it sendeth out
undecent and unpleasant voice:

And stirs the strings at secret root of heart.
Which touched should not be, but lie apart.

The sea verily, when being troubled and disquieted with bluster-
ing winds, it casteth up moss, reits, and such-like weeds (they
say), it is cleansed and purged thereby : but the dissolu:e, bitter,
scurril, and foolish speeches, which anger sendeth out of the
mind when it is turned upside down, first pollute and defile the
speakers themselves, and fill them full of infamy, for that they
be thought to have their hearts full of such ordure and filthiness
at all times; but the same lurketh there, until that choler dis-
covereth it: And therefore, they pay most dearly for their
speech, the lightest matter of all others (as Plato saith), in that
they suffer this heavy and grievous punishment to be held and
reputed for malicious enemies, cursed speakers, and ill-con-
ditioned persons. Which I seeing and observing well enough,
it falleth out that I reason with myself, and always call to mind
what a good thing it is in a fever, but much better in a fit of
choler, to have a tongue fair, even and smooth : For in them that
be sick of an ague, if the tongue be not such as naturally it ought
to be, an ill sign it is, but not a cause of any harm or indisposition
within. Howbeit, if their tongues who are angry be once
rough, foul, and running dissolutely at random to absurd
speeches, it casteth forth outrageous and contumelious language,
the very mother and work-mistress of irreconcilable enmity, and
bewrayeth an hidden and secret maliciousness. As for wine, if
a man drink it of itself undelayed with water, it putteth forth
no such wantonness, no disordinate and lewd speeches, like to
those that proceed of ire. For drunken talk serveth to make
mirth, and to procure laughter rather than anything else: but
words of choler are tempered with bitter gall and rancour.
Moreover, he that sitteth silent at the table when others drink
merrily, is odious unto the company and a trouble : whereas in
choler there is nothing more decent and beseeming gravity, than
to be quiet and say nothing: according as Sappho doth admonish:

When furious choler once is up,

Disperst and spread in breast,
To keep the tongue then apt to bark.

And let it lie at rest.

The consideration of these things collected thus together.

Of Meekness 1 1 3

serveth not only to take heed always unto them that are subject
to ire and therewith possessed, but also besides to know
throughly the nature of anger: how it is neither generous or
manful, nor yet hath anything in it that savoureth of wisdom
and magnanimity. Howbeit the common people interpret the
turbulent nature thereof to be active and meet for action: the
threats and menaces thereof, hardiness and confidence, the
peevish and froward unruliness to be fortitude and strength.
Nay, some there be who would have the cruelty in it to be a
disposition and dexterity to achieve great matters; the im-
placable malice thereof to be constancy and firm resolution : the
morosity and difficulty to be pleased, to be hatred of sin and
vice ; howbeit, herein they do not well, but are much deceived,
for surely the very actions, motions, gestures, and countenance
of choleric persons do argue and bewray much baseness and
imbecility: which we may perceive not only in these brain-sick
fits that they fall upon little children, and them pluck, twitch,
and misuse; fly upon poor silly women, and think that they
ought to punish and beat their horses, hounds, and mules, like
unto Ctesiphon, that famous wrestler and professed champion
who stuck not to spurn and kick his mule; but also in their
tyrannical and bloody murders, wherein their cruelty and bitter-
ness, which declareth their pusillanimity and base mind; their
actions, which shew their passions and their doing to others,
bewraying a suffering in themselves, may be compared to the
stings and bitings of those venomous serpents which be very
angry, exceeding dolorous, and burn most themselves when they
do inflict the greatest inflammation upon the patients, and put
them to most pain : For like as swelling is a symptom or accident
following upon a great wound or hurt in the flesh : even so it is
in the tenderest and softest minds, the more they give place and
yield unto dolour and passion, the more plenty of choler and
anger they utter forth as proceeding from the greater weakness.
By this you may see the reason why women ordinarily be
more waspish, curst, and shrewd than men; sick folk more
testy than those that are in health; old people more wayward
and froward than those that be in the flower and vigour of their
years; and finally, such as be in adversity and upon whom
fortune frowneth, more prone to anger than those who prosper
and have the world smiling upon them. The covetous miser
and pinching penny-father is always most angry with his
steward that layeth forth his money; the glutton is ever more
displeased with his cook and caterer; the jealous husband

114 Plutarch's Morals

quickly falleth out and brawleth with his wife ; the vain-glorious
fool is soonest offended with them that speak anything amiss of
him; but the most bitter and intolerable of all others, are
ambitious persons in a city, who lay for high places and dignities,
such also as are the heads of a faction in a sedition; which is a
trouble and mischief (as Pindarus saith) conspicuous and honour-
able. Lo, how from that part of the mind which is wounded,
grieved, suffereth most and especially upon infirmity and weak-
ness, ariseth anger, which passion resembleth not (as one would
have it) the sinews of the soul, but is like rather to their stretch-
ing sprains and spasmatic convulsions, when it straineth and
striveth overmuch in following revenge.

Well, the examples of evil things yield no pleasant sight at all,
only they be necessary and profitable ; and for mine own part,
supposing the precedents given by those who have carried them-
selves gently and mildly in their occasions of anger, are most
delectable, not only to behold, but also hear: I begin to con-
temn and despise those that say thus:

Likewise :

To man thou hast done wrong: be sure
At man's hand wrong for to endure.

Down to the ground with him, spare not his coat,
Spurn him and set thy foot upoin his throat.

and other such words which serve to provoke wrath and whet
choler; by which some go about to remove anger out of the
nursery, and women's chamber into the hall where men do sit
and keep; but herein they do not well: For prowess and
fortitude according in all other things with justice, and going
fellow-like with her, methinks is at strife and debate with her
about meekness and mildness only, as if she rather became her,
and by right appertained unto her: For otherwhiles it hath been
known that the worst men have gone beyond and surmounted
the better. But for a man to erect a trophy and set up a
triumphal monument in his own soul against ire (with which,
as Heraclitus saith, the conflict is hard and dangerous: for
what a man would have he buyeth with his life) is an act of
rare valour and victorious puissance, as having in truth the
judgment of reason, for sinews, tendons, and muscles to en-
counter and resist passions. Which is the cause that I study,
and am desirous always to read and gather the sayings and
doings, not only of learned clerks and philosophers ; who, as our
sages and wise men say, have no gall in them, but also and much

;;, Of Meekness 115

rather of kings, princes^ tyrants, and potentates : As, for example,
such as that was of Antigonus, who hearing his soldiers upon a
time revile him behind his pavilion, thinking that he heard them
not, put forth his staff from under the cloth unto them and said:
A whoreson knaves, could you not go a little farther off, when
you meant thus to rail upon us? Likewise when one Arcadian,
an Argive or Achaean never gave over reviling of King Philip,
and abusing him in most reproachful terms, yea, and to give
him warning

So far to fly, until he thither came

Where no man knew nor heard of Philip's name.

And afterwards the man was seen (I know not how) in Macedonia ;
the friends and courtiers of King Philip were in hand with him
to have him punished, and that in any wise he should not let
him go and escape: Philip, contrariwise, having him once in his
hands, spake gently unto him, used him courteously, sending
unto him in his lodging gifts and presents, and so sent him away.
And after a certain time he commanded those courtiers of
purpose to inquire what words he gave out of him unto the
Greeks; but when every one made report again and testified
that he was become another man, and ceased not to speak
wonderful things in the praise of him; Lo (quoth Philip), then
unto them: Am not I a better physician than all you, and can
I not skill how to cure a foul-tongued fellow? Another time,
at the great solemnity of the Olympian games, when the Greeks
abused him with very bad language, his familiar friends about
him said they deserved to be sharply chastised and punished
for so miscalling and reviling him, who had been so good a
benefactor of theirs: What would they do and say then (quoth
he) if I should deal hardly by them and do them shrewd turns ?
Semblably, notable and excellent was the carriage of Pisistratus
to Thrasibulus: of King Porsenna to Mutius, and of Magas to
Philemon, who in a public and frequent theatre had mocked
and scoffed at him in this manner:

Magas, there are some letters come

Unto you from a king;
But letter Magas none can read, i

Nor write for anything.

Now it chanced afterwards that by a tempest at sea he was
cast upon the port town Parsetonium, whereof Magas was
governor, and so fell into his hands, who did him no other harm,
but commanded one of his guard or officers about him only with

1 1 6 Plutarch's Morals

his naked sword to touch his bare neck, and so gently to go his
ways and do no more to him : marry, afterwards, he sent unto
him little bones for cockal, and a pretty ball to play withal, as
if he had been a child that had no wit nor discretion, and so
sent him home again in peace. King Ptolemseus, upon a time
jesting and scoffing at a simple and unlearned grammarian,
asked him who was the father of Peleus : I will answer you, sir
(quoth he), if you tell me first who was the father of Lagus:
This was a dry flout and touched King Ptolemseus very near, in
regard of the mean parentage from whence he was descended:
whereat all about the king were mightily offended, and thought
it was too broad a jest and frump intolerable. But Ptolemseus,
if it be not seemly for a king to take and put up a scorn, surely
as little decent it is for his person to give a scorn ^

Alexander the Great was more bitter and cruel (than other-
wise his ordinary manner was to others) towards Callisthenes
and Clytus. But King Porus, being taken prisoner by him in a
battle, besought that he would use him royally, or like a king.
And when King Alexander demanded, moreover, what he had
more to say, and what he would have else? No more (quoth
he), for under this word royally is comprised all. And therefore
I suppose it is that the Greeks call the king of the gods by
the name of Milichiiis, that is to say, Mild and sweet as honey.
And the Athenians named him Mumactes, which is as much as.
Ready to help and succour: For to punish and torment per-
taineth to devils and the furious fiends of hell: there is no
celestial, divine, and heavenly thing in it. And like as one said
'of King Philip, when he had razed and destroyed the city
Olynthus : Yea, marry, but he is not able to set up such another
city in the place: even so, a man may well say unto anger.
Thou canst overthrow, demolish, mar, and pull down; but to
rear and erect again, to save, to pardon, and to endure, be
the properties of meekness, clemency, mildness, patience and
moderation: they be the parts (I say) of Camillus, Metellus,
Aristides, and Socrates: whereas to stick close unto the flesh,
to pinch, prick, and bite, are the qualities of pismires, flies, and
mice.

Moreover and besides, when I look unto revenge, and the
manner thereof, I find for the most part, that if men proceed
by way of choler, they miss of their purpose : for commonly all
the heat and desire of revenge is spent in biting of lips, gnashing
and grating of teeth, vain running to and fro, in railing words
1 It seemeth that here is somewhat wanting.

Of Meekness 117

with foolish threats and menaces among, that savour of no wit
at all : By which means it fareth with them afterwards as with
little children in running of a race, who for feebleness being not
able to hold out, fall down before they come unto the goal,
whereunto they made such ridiculous and foolish haste. And
therefore in my conceit, it was not an improper answer which a
certain Rhodian made unto one of the lictors and officers of a
Roman general or lord praetor, who with wide mouth bawled
at him, and made a glorious bragging and boasting. I pass
not (quoth he) one whit what thou sayst; I care rather for
that which he thinketh there, that saith nothing. In like
manner Sophocles, when he had brought in Eurypylus and
Neoptolemus all armed, speaketh bravely in their commenda-
tion thus:

They dealt no threats in vain, no taunts

They made, nor boasting words;
But to 't they went, and on their shields

They laid on load with swords.

And verily, some barbarous nations there are who use to poison
their swords and other weapons of iron; but valour hath no
need at all of the venom of choler, for dipped it is in reason and
judgment; whereas whatsoever is corrupted with ire and fury
is brittle, rotten, and easy to be broken into pieces. Which is
the reason that the Lacedaemonians do allay the choler of their
soldiers, when they are fighting, with the melodious sound of
flutes and pipes; whose manner is also, before they go to battle,
to sacrifice unto the Muses, to the end that their reason and
right wits may remain in them still, and that they may have
use thereof: yea, and when they have put their enemies to
flight, they never pursue after nor follow the chase, but reclaim
and hold their furious anger within compass, which they are
able to wield and manage as they list; no less than these
daggers or cutlasses, which are of a mean size and reasonable
length.

Contrariwise, anger hath been the cause that many thousands
have come short of the execution of vengeance, and miscarried
by the way. As, for example, Cyrus and Pelopidas the Theban
among the rest. But Agathocles endured patiently to hear
himself reproached and reviled by those whom he besieged:
and when one of them said: You potter there! Hear you?
Where will you have silver to pay your mercenary soldiers and
strangers their wages? He laughed again and made answer;
Even out of this city when I have once forced it. Some there

ii8 Plutarch's Morals

were also that mocked and scorned Antigonus from the very
walls, and twitted him with his deformity and evil-favoured
face. But he said no more than thus, Why ! And I took myself
before to have been very fair and well favoured. Now when he
had won the town he sold in open port-sale those that had so
flouted him, protesting withal unto them, that if from that
time forward they mocked him any more, he would tell their
masters of them and call them to account.

Moreover, I do see that hunters, yea, and orators also, commit
many faults in their choler. And Aristotle doth report, that
the friends of Satyrus the orator, in one cause that he had to
plead for them, stopped his ears with wax, for fear lest that he,
when he heard his adversaries to rail upon him in their pleas,
should mar all in his anger. And do not (I pray you) we our-
selves many times miss of punishing our servants by this means,
when they have done some faults: for when they hear us to
threaten, and give out in our anger, that we will do thus and
thus unto them, they be so frighted that they run away far
enough off from us. Like as nurses, therefore, are wont to say
unto their little children: Cry not, and you shall have this or
that; so we shall do very well to speak unto our choler in this
wise; Make no such haste, soft and fair, keep not such a crying,
make not so loud a noise, be not so eager and urgent upon the
point: so shall you see everything that you would have, sooner
done and much better. And thus a father, when he seeth his
child going about to cut or cleave anything with a knife or edge
tool, taketh the tool or knife out of his hand, and doth it himself;
even so he that doth take revenge out of the hands of choler,
punisheth not himself, but him that deserveth it: and thus he
doth surely, putting his own person in no danger, without
damage and loss, nay, with great profit and commodity.

Now, whereas all passions whatsoever of the mind had need
of use and custom, to tame (as it were) and vanquish by exercise
that which in them is unruly, rebellious and disobedient to
reason: certes, in no one point besides had we need to be more
exercised (I mean as touching those dealings that we have with
our household servants) than in anger: for there is no envy and
emulation that ariseth in us toward them, there is no fear that
we need to have of them, neither any ambition that troubleth
or pricketh us against them; but ordinary and continual fits
of anger we have every day with them, which breed much offence
and many errors, causing us to tread awry, to slip and do amiss
sundry ways, by reason of that licentious liberty unto which we

Of Meekness 1 19

give ourselves, all the whiles that there is none to control, none
to stay, none to forbid and hinder us: and therefore, being in
so ticklish a place, and none to sustain and hold us up, soon we
catch a fall, and come down at once. And a hard matter it is
(I may say to you) when we are not bound to render an account
to any one, in such a passion as this, to keep ourselves upright,
and not to offend; unless we take order beforehand to restrain
and empale (as it were) round about so great a liberty with
meekness and clemency, unless (I say) we be well inured and
acquainted to bear and endure many shrewd and unhappy
words of our wives, much unkind language of friends and
familiars, who many times do challenge us for being too remiss,
over-gentle, yea, and altogether careless and negligent in this
behalf. And this in truth hath been the principal cause that
I have been quick and sharp unto my servants, for fear lest they
might prove the worse for not being chastised. But at the last,
though late it were, I perceived; First, that better it was by
long sufferance and indulgence, to make them somewhat worse,
than in seeking to reform and amend others, to disorder and
spoil myself with bitterness and choler: Secondly, when I saw
many of them oftentimes, even because they were not so
punished, fear and shame to do evil, and how pardon and for-
giveness was the beginning of their repentance and conversion,
rather than rigour and punishment; and that I assure you,
they would serve some more willingly with a nod or wink of the
eye, and without a word spoken, than others with all their
beating and whipping: I was at last persuaded in my mind
and resolved, that reason was more worthy to command and
rule as a master, than ire and wrath. For true it is not that
the poet saith:

Wherever is fear,

Shame also is there:

but clean contrary: Look who are bashful and ashamed; in
them there is imprinted a certain fear that holdeth them in good
order: whereas continual beating and laying on without mercy,
breedeth not repentance in servants for evil doing, but rather
a kind of forecast and providence how they should not be spied
nor taken in their evil doing. Thirdly, calling to remembrance,
and considering evermore with myself, that he who taught us
to shoot forbade us not to draw a bow or to shoot an arrow, but
to miss the mark : no more will this be any let or hindrance, but
that we may chastise and punish our servants, if we be taught
to do it in time and place, with moderation and measure,

I20 Plutarch's Morals

profitably, and decently as it appertaineth. And verily I do
enforce myself, and strive to master my choler and subdue it
principally, nor denying unto them who are to be punished, the
liberty and means to justify themselves, but in hearing them
to speak what they can for their excuse. For as time and space
doth in the meantime find the passion occupied another way,
and withal bring a certain delay, which doth slack and let
down (as it were) the vehemency and violence thereof; so
judgment of reason all the while meeteth both with a decent
manner and also with a convenient mean and measure of doing
punishment accordingly. And besides, this course and manner
of proceeding, leaveth him that is punished no cause, occasion,
or pretence at all to resist and strive again, considering that he
is chastised and corrected not in choler and anger, but being
first convinced that he had well deserved his correction: and
(which were yet worse than all the rest) the servant shall not
have vantage to speak more justly and to better reason than
his master.

Well, then, like as Phocion after the death of Alexander the
Great, having a care not to suffer the Athenians to rise over-
soon, or make any insurrection before due time, nor yet to give
credit rashly unto the news of his death: My masters of Athens
(quoth he), if he be dead to-day, he will be dead to-morrow
also, and three days hence too; even so should a man (in mine
opinion) who, by the impulsion and instigation of anger, maketh
haste to take punishment, thus suggest and secretly say to
himself: If this servant of mine hath made a fault to-day, it
will be as true to-morrow, and the next day after, that he hath
done a fault; neither will there be any harm or danger at all
come of it, if he chance to be punished with the latest; but
believe me, if he be punished over-soon, it will be always thought
that he had wrong, and did not offend: a thing that I have
known to happen full often. For which of us all is so curst
and cruel, as to punish and scourge a servant for burning the
roast five or ten days ago ? or for that so long before he chanced
to overthrow the table? or was somewhat with the slowest in
making answer to his master; or did his errand or other business
not so soon as he should? and yet we see these and such-like
be the ordinary causes for which (whiles they be fresh and new
done) we take on, we stamp and stare, we chafe, we frown, we
are implacable and will hear of no pardon : And no marvel, for
like as any bodies seem bigger through a mist, even so every-
thing appeareth greater than it is through anger.

Of Meekness 1 21

And therefore at these and such-Hke faults, we should wink
for the time, and make as though we saw them not, and yet
think upon them nevertheless, and bear them in mind. But
afterwards, when the storm is well overblown, we are without
passion, and do not suspect ourselves, then we may do well to
consider thereof: and then, if upon mature deliberation, when
our mind is staid and our senses settled, the thing appear
to be naught, we are to hate and abhor it, and in no wise either
to forlet and put off, or altogether to omit and forbear correc-
tion, like as they refuse meats who have no stomach nor appetite
to eat. For certainly it is not a thing so much to be blamed
for to punish one in anger, as not to punish when anger is past
and allayed, and so to be retchless and dissolute: doing as idle
mariners, who so long as the sea is calm and the weather fair,
loiter within the harbour or haven, but afterwards, when a
tempest is up, spread sails and put themselves into danger.
For even so we, condemning and neglecting the remissness and
calmness of reason in case of punishment, make haste to execute
the same during the heat of choler, which no doubt is a blustering
and turbulent wind. As for meat, he calleth for it indeed, and
taketh it naturally who is a-hungry: but surely he executeth
punishment best who neither hungereth nor thirsteth after it:
neither hath he need to use choler as a sauce or dainty dish for
to get him a stomach and appetite to correct: but even when
he is farthest off from desire of revenge, then of necessity he is
to make use of reason and wisdom to direct him : for we ought
not to do, as Aristotle writeth in his time the manner was in
Tuscany; To whip servants with sound of flutes and hautboys;
namely, to make a sport and pastime of punishing men, and to
solace ourselves with their punishment for pleasure's sake, and
then afterwards, when we have done, repent us of it: for as the
one is brutish and beastlike, so the other is as womanish and
unmanly: but without grief and pleasure both, at what time
as reason and judgment is in force, we ought to let justice take
punishment, and leave none occasion at all for choler to get
advantage.

But peradventure some one will say, that this is not properly
the way to remedy or cure anger; but rather a putting by or
precaution that we should not commit any of those faults which
ordinarily follow that passion: Unto whom I answer thus;
That the swelling of the spleen is not the cause but a symptom
or accident of a fever: howbeit, if the said humour be fallen
and the pain mitigated, the fever also will be much eased,

122 Plutarch's Morals

according as Hieronymus saith. Also, when I consider by what
means choler is engendered: I see that one falleth into it upon
this cause, another upon that : but in all of them it seemeth this
general opinion there is, that they think themselves to be
despised and naught set by. And therefore we ought to meet
with such as seem to defend and maintain themselves, as being
angry for just cause, and to cure them after this manner ; namely,
by diverting and removing from them, as far as ever we can, all
suspicion of contempt and contumacy in those that have
offended them and moved their anger; in laying the fault upon
inconsiderate folly, necessity, sickness, infirmity and misery,
as Sophocles did in these verses:

For those, my lords, whose state is in distress.

Have not their spirits and wits as heretofore :

As fortune frowns, they waxen ever less, ■

Nay, gone are quite, though fresh they were before.

And Agamemnon, albeit he laid the taking away of Briseis from
Achilles upon Ate (that is to say) some fatal infortunity, yet

He willing was and prest, him to content.
And unto him rich gifts for to present.

For to beseech and intreat are signs of a man that despiseth
not, and when the party who hath given offence becometh
humble and lowly, he removeth all the opinion that might be
conceived of contempt. But he that is in a fit of choler must
not attend and wait until he see that, but rather help himself
with the answer of Diogenes. These fellows here said one unto
him. Do deride thee, Diogenes; but I (quoth he again) do not
find that I am derided ; even so ought a man who is angry not
to be persuaded that he is contemned of another, but rather
that himself hath just cause to contemn him, and to think that
the fault committed did proceed of infirmity, error, heady-
rashness, sloth and idleness, a base and illiberal mind, age or
youth.

And as for our servants and friends, we must by all means
quit them hereof, or pardon them at leastwise : For surely they
cannot be thought to contemn us, in regard that they think
us unable to be revenged, or men of no execution if we went
about it: but it is either by reason of our remissness and mild-
ness, or else of our love and affection, that we seem to be smally
regarded by them, whiles our servants presume of our tractable
nature, easy to be pacified, and our friends of our exceeding
love that cannot be soon shaken oS.j But now we are provoked

Of Meekness 123

to anger, not only against our wives, or servitors and friends,
as being contemned by them ; but also many times in our choler
we fall upon inn-keepers, mariners and muleteers, when they be
drunk, supposing that they despise us. And that which more
is, we are offended with dogs when they bay or bark at us ; and
with asses if they chance to fling out and kick us. Like unto
him who lifted up his hand to strike and beat him that did drive
an ass ; and when the man cried that he was an Athenian : But
thou, I am sure, art no Athenian (quoth he) to the ass, and
laid upon the poor beast as hard as he could, and gave him
many a blow with his cudgel. But that which chiefly causeth
us to be angry, and breedeth a continual disposition thereto in
our minds, causing us so often to break out into fits of choler,
which by little and little was engendered and gathered there
before, is the love of our own selves, and a kind of froward
surliness hardly to be pleased, together with a certain daintiness
and delicacy, which all concurring in one, breed and bring forth
a swarm (as it were) of bees, or rather a wasps' nest in us. And
therefore there cannot be a better means for to carry ourselves
mildly and kindly, towards our wives, our servants, familiars
and friends, than a contented mind, and a singleness or simplicity
of heart, when a man resteth satisfied with whatsoever is present
at hand, and requireth neither things superfluous nor exquisite:

But he that never is content

With rost or sod, but cook is shent :

However he be serv'd, I mean

With more, with less, or in a mean:

He is not pleas'd, nor one good word

Can give of viands set on board.

Without some snow who drinks no draught,

Nor eateth bread in market bought.

Who tastes no meat, b' it never so good,

Serv'd up in dish of earth or wood :

And thinks no bed nor pillow soft,

Unless with down like sea aloft

Stirr'd from beneath, it strut and swell;

For otherwise he sleeps not well ;

who with rods and whips plieth and hasteneth the servitors at
the table, making them to run until they sweat again, crying
and bawling at them to come away apace, as if they were not
carrying dishes of meat, but plasters and cataplasms for some
inflammation or painful impostume: subjecting himself after a
slavish manner to a servile kind of diet and life, full of discon-
tentment, quarrels and complaints : little knoweth such an one
how by a continual cough, or many concussions and distem-
peratures^ he hath brought his soul to an ulcerous and rheumatic

124 Plutarch's Morals

disposition about the seat and place of anger. And therefore
we must use the body by frugality to take up and learn to be
content with a competent mean (forasmuch as they who desire
but a little, can never be disappointed nor frustrate of much),
finding no fault, nor keeping any stir at the beginning about
meat, but standing satisfied without saying a word, with that
which God sendeth whatsoever it be, not fretting, vexing and
tormenting ourselves at the table about everything, and in so
doing, serving both ourselves and our company about us of
friends, with the most unsavoury mess of meat, that is to wit,
choler:

A supper worse than this I do not see

How possibly one can devised be.

Namely, whiles the servants be beaten, the wife chidden and
reviled for the meat burnt, for smoke in the parlour, for want of
salt, or for the bread over-stale and dry. But Arcesilaus upon
a time with other friends of his, feasted certain strangers and
hosts of his abroad, whose guest he had been; and after the
supper was come in, and meat set upon the board, there wanted
bread, by reason that his servants had forgotten and neglected
to buy any: for such a fault as this, which of us here would
not have cried out that the walls should have burst withal,
and been ready to have thrown the house out of the window?
And he laughing at the matter: He had need be a wise man
(quoth he), I see well, that would make a feast and set it out
as it should be. Socrates also upon a time, when he came from
the wrestling school, took Euthydemus home with him to supper:
but Xantippe, his wife, fell a-chiding and scolding with him at
the board, reviling him with most bitter terms, so long, until at
last in an anger down went table and all that was upon it:
Whereupon Euthydemus arose, and was about to depart; but
Socrates: Will you be gone? (quoth he). Why, do you not
remember that the other day as we sat at supper in your house,
there flew up to the board a hen and did as much for you ? and
yet were not we offended nor angry for the matter. And in
very truth, we must entertain our friends and guests with
courtesy, mirth, a smiling countenance, and affectionate love:
and not to brow-beat them, nor yet put the servitors in a fright,
and make them quake and tremble with our frowning looks.
Also we ought so to accustom ourselves that we may be content
to be served with any kind of vessels whatsoever, and not upon
a daintiness to have a mind to this rather than to that, but
to like all indifferently. And yet there be some so divers, that

Of Meekness 125

although there be many cups and goblets standing upon the
board, choose one from the rest, and cannot drink forsooth but
out of that one: according as the stories do report of Marius,
who loved one mazar, and could drink out of no other. Thus
they do by their oil cruets and currying combs or rubbers, when
they are at the bains or stouphs, taking a fancy and affection to
some one above the rest: but if it chance that one of them be
cracked, broken, or be lost and miscarry any way, then thej"
are exceeding angry and fall to beating of their servants.

Such men, therefore, as find themselves to be choleric, should
do well to forbear all rare and exquisite things, to wit, pots,
cups, seal rings of excellent workmanship and precious stones.
For that such costly jewels, if they be marred or lost, breed
more anger and set men out of order, more than those which be
ordinary and easy to be come by. And therefore, when Nero
the emperor had caused to be made a certain pavilion or taber-
nacle eight square, which was both for the beauty and cost
exceeding fair and sumptuous, and indeed an admirable piece
of work. In this tabernacle (quoth Seneca) unto him, you have
bewrayed, 0 Caesar, that you are but a poor man: for if you lose
this once, you shall never be able to recover and get the like
again. And so it fell out indeed, for the ship wherein the same
tabernacle was, chanced to be cast away upon the sea, and all
was drowned. But Nero, calling to mind the words of Seneca, ,
took the loss more patiently.

Moreover, this contentment of mind, and easiness to be
pleased with anything in the house, causeth a man also to be
more gentle, mild, and better contented with his servants and
people about him: now if it work this effect in us toward our
household servants, evident it is that we shall be likewise
affected to our friends and those that be under our government.
We see also, that slaves new bought are inquisitive as touching
him who hath bought them; not whether he be superstitious
and envious; but whether he be choleric and hasty or no. And
to be brief, neither can husbands endure the pudicity and
honesty of their wives; nor wives the love of their husbands;
nor yet friends the mutual conversation one with another, if
:;here do an angry and choleric humour go withal. Thus we see
;hat neither marriage nor amity be tolerable with choler. Con-
;rariwise, if anger be away, even drunkenness itself is tolerable
md we can easily abide it: for the very ferula of god Bacchus
s a sufficient punishment of drunkenness, if so be there be not
;holer therewith, which may cause Bacchus, that is. Strong

126 Plutarch's Morals

wine, instead of Lyaeus and Chorius, that is to say, The Looser
of cares and Leader of dances (which are his surnames), to be
called Omestes and Moenoles, which signify Cruel and Furious.
As for simple madness of itself alone, the ellebore growing in
Antycira is sufficient to cure: but if it be mingled with choler
it causeth tragical fits, and those so strange, that a man would
repute them for mere fables.

And therefore we must not give place to anger, neither in
sport and pastime; for in lieu of goodwill it breedeth enmity:
nor in conference and disputations; for it tumeth the love and
desire of knowledge into debate and contention: nor in deciding
and judging causes ; because to authority it addeth violence and
insolency: nor in the teaching and instruction of our children;
for it maketh them desperate and haters of learning: nor in
prosperity; for it encreaseth the envy and grudge of men : nor
yet in adversity, because it taketh away pity and compassion,
when they who are fallen into any misfortune, shew themselves
testy, froward and quarrelous to those who come to moan and
mourn with them. This did Priamus, as we read in Homer:

Avaunt (quoth he), you chiding guests.

You odious mates, be gone;
Have you no sorrows of your own.

But you come me to moan ?

.On the other side, fair conditions and mild behaviour yieldeth
succour and help in some cases ; composeth and ordereth matters
aright in others; dulceth and allay eth that which is tart and
sour: and in one word, by reason of that kind, meek and gentle
quality, it overcometh anger and all wayward testiness what-
soever. Thus it is reported of Euclides in a quarrel or variance
between him and his brother: For when his brother had con-
tested and said unto him; I would I might die, if I be not
revenged of thee: he inferred again; Nay, let me die for it, if
I persuade thee not otherwise before I have done; by which
one word he presently won his brother's heart, so that he
changed his mind, and they parted friends. Polemon likewise,
at a certain time, when one who loved precious stones, and was
sick for fair and costly rings and such-like curious jewels, did
rail at him outrageously, answered not a word again, but
looked very wistly upon one of the signets that the other had,
and well considered the fashion and workmanship thereof:
which, when the party perceived, taking as it should seem no
small contentment, and being very well pleased that he so
perused his jewel; Not so, Polemon (quoth he again), but look

Of Meekness 127

upon it thus, between you and the Hght, and then you will think
it much more beautiful. Aristippus fell out upon a time (I
know not how) with ^Eschines, and was in a great choler and
fit of anger: How now, Aristippus (quoth one who heard him
so high and at such hot words), where is your amity and friend-
ship all this while ? Marry, asleep (quoth he), but I will waken
it anon. With that he stept close to iEschines, and said : Think
you me so unhappy ever}- way and incurable, that I deserved
not one admonishment at your hands? No marvel (quoth
vEschines again) if I thought you (who for natural wit in all things
else excel me) to see better in this case also than I, what is
meet and expedient to be done. For true it is that the poet
saith:

The boar so wild, whose neck with bristles strong

Is thick beset, the tender hand and soft

Of woman nice, yea, and of infant young.

By stroking fair, shall bend and turn (full oft)

Much sooner far, and that with greater ease

Than wrestlers strong with all their force and peise.

And we ourselves can skill how to tame wild beasts, we know
how to make young wolves gentle, yea, and lions' whelps other-
whiles we carry about with us in our arms: but see, how we
again afterwards, in a raging fit of choler, be ready to fling from
us and cast out of our sight our own children, our friends and
familiars, and all our household servants, our fellow-citizens
and neighbours, we let loose our ire like some savage and furious
beast, and this rage of ours we disguise and cloak forsooth with
a colourable and false name, calling it hatred of vice. But
herein (I suppose) we do no otherwise than in the rest of our
passions and diseases of the mind; terming one, providence and
forecast; another, liberality; and a third, piety and religion:
and yet for all these pretences of goodly names, we cannot be
cured of the vices which they palliate; to wit, timorousness,
prodigality and superstition.

And verily, like as our natural seed (as Zeno said) is a certain
mixture and composition derived and extracted from all the
powers and faculties of the soul; even so, in mine opinion, a
man may say that choler is a miscellany seed (as it were) and a
dreg, made of all the passions of the mind: for plucked it is
trom pain, pleasure and insolent violence: Of envy it hath this
quality, to joy in the harms of other men: it standeth much
ipon murder, but worse it is simply than murder: for the
vrathful person striveth and laboureth not to defend and save
limself from taking harm; but so he may mischief and over-

128 Plutarch's Morals

throw another, he careth not to come by a hurt and shrewd
turn himself. It holdeth likewise of concupiscence and lust,
and taketh of it the worse and more unpleasant part, in case it
be (as it is indeed) a desire and appetite to grieve, vex, and
harm another. And therefore, when we approach and come
near to the houses of luxurious and riotous persons, we hear
betimes in the morning a minstrel-wench sounding and playing
the morrow- watch by break of day: we see the muddy-grounds
and dregs (as one was wont to say) of the wine, to wit, the
vomits of those who cast up their stomachs: we behold the
pieces and fragments of broken garlands and chaplets: and at
the door we find the lackeys and pages of them who ate within,
drunken and heavy in the head with tippling strong wine.

But the signs that tell where hasty, choleric, and angry persons
dwell, appear in the faces of their servants, in the marks and
wales remaining after their whipping, and in their clogs, irons,
and fetters about their feet. For in the houses of hasty and
angry men, a man shall never hear but one kind of music; that
is to say, the heavy note of wailing groans and piteous plaints ;
whiles either the stewards within are whipped and scourged, or
the maidens racked and put to torture, in such sort that you
would pity to see the dolours and pains of ire which she suflPereth
in those things that she lusteth after and taketh pleasure in.
And yet as many of us as happen to be truly and justly sur-
prised with choler oftentimes, for the hatred and detestation
that we have of vices, ought to cut off that which is excessive
therein and beyond measure, together with our over-light belief
and credulity of reports concerning such as converse with us:
For this is one of the causes that most of all doth engender and
augment choler, when either he whom we took for an honest
man proveth dishonest, and is detected for some naughtiness,
or whom we reputed our friend is fallen into some quarrel and
variance with us: as for myself, you know my nature and dis-
position, what small occasions make me both to love men
effectually, and also to trust them confidently; and therefore
(just as it falleth out with them who go over a false floor where
the ground is not fast, but hollow under their feet) where I lean
most and put my greatest trust for the love that I bear, there
I offend most and soonest catch a fall: there (I say) am I grieved
most also, when I see how I was deceived : As for that exceeding
inclination and forwardness of mind, thus to love and affect a
man, could I never yet to this day wean myself from, so inbred
it is and settled in me : marry, to stay myself from giving credit

Of Meekness 129

over-hastily and too much, I may peradventure use that bridle
which Plato speaketh of, to wit, wary circumspection: For in
recommending the mathematician Helicon, I praise him (quoth
he) for a man, that is as much to say, as a creature by nature
mutable and apt to change. And even those who have been
well brought up in a city, to wit, in Athens, he saith that he is
afraid likewise of them, lest being men, and coming from the seed
of man, they do not one time or other bewray the weakness and
infirmity of human nature: and Sophocles, when he speaketh
thus:

Who list to search through all deeds of mankind
More bad than good he shall be sure to find,

seemeth to clip our wings, and disable us wonderfully. Howbeit,
this difficulty and caution in judging of men and pleasing our-
selves in the choice of friends, will cause us to be more tractable
and moderate in our anger: for whatsoever cometh suddenly
and unexpected, the same soon transporteth us beside ourselves.
We ought, moreover, as Panatius teacheth us in one place, to
practise the example of Anaxagoras, and like as he said, when
news came of his son's death; I know well (quoth he) that I
begat him a mortal man; so in every fault of our servants or
others that shall whetten our choler, each one of us may sing
this note to himself: I knew well that when I bought this slave
he was not a wise philosopher : I wist also that I had gotten for
tny friend not one altogether void of affections and passions:
neither was I ignorant when I took a wife that I wedded a
A^oman.

Now if withal a man would evermore, when he seeth others
lo amiss, add this more unto the ditty as Plato teacheth us,
md sing thus: Am not I also such another? turning the dis-
:ursion of his judgment from things abroad to those which are
vithin himself, and among his complaints and reprehensions of
ither men, come in with a certain caveat of his own, and fear to
le reproved himself in the like ; he would not haply be so
I [uick and forward in the hatred and detestation of other men's
' ices, seeing that himself hath so much need of pardon. But
( n the contrary side, every one of us, when he is in the heat of
( holer and punisheth another, hath these words of severe
. .ristides and precise Cato ready enough in his mouth : Steal
I ot, sirrah: Make no more lies: Why art thou so idle then?
( tc. To conclude (that which of all others is most unseemly
I nd absurd), we reprove in anger others for being angry; and

E

130 Plutarch*s Morals

such faults as were committed in choler, those ourselves will
punish in choler; not verily as the physicians use to do, who

A bitter medicine into the body pour.

When bitter choler they mean to purge and scour.

But we rather do increase the same with our bitterness^ and
make more trouble than was before.

And therefore, when I think and discourse with myself of
these matters, I endeavour withal and assay to cut off somewhat
from needless curiosity. For surely this narrow searching and
streight looking into everything, for to spy and find out a fault;
as for example, to sift thy servant and call him into question
for all his idle hours; to pry into every action of thy friend;
to see where about thy son goeth, and how he spendeth all his
time ; to listen what whispering there is between thy wife and
another, be the very means to breed much anger, daily brawls,
and continual jars, which grow in the end to the height of curst-
ness and frowardness, hard to be pleased with anything what-
soever. For according as Euripides saith in one place, we ought
in some sort to do :

All great affairs God ay himself directeth,
' ' But matters small, to fortune he committeth.

For mine own part, I do not think it good to commit any
business to fortune; neither would I have a man of under-
standing to be retchless in his own occasions: But with some
things to put his wife in trust; others to make over unto ser-
vants, and in some matters to use his friends. Herein to bear
himself like a prince and great commander, having under him
his deputies, governors, receivers, auditors, and procurators;
reserving unto himself and to the disposition of his own judg-
ment, the principal affairs and those of greatest importance.
For like as little letters or a small print do more offend and
trouble the eyes than greater, for that the eyes be very intentive
upon them; even so, small matters do quickly move choler,
which thereupon soon getteth an ill custom in weightier matters.
But above all, I ever reckon that saying of Empedocles to be a
divine precept and heavenly oracle, which admonisheth us To
fast from sin. I commended also these points and observations,
as being right honest, commendable, and beseeming him that
maketh profession of wisdom and philosophy, which we use to
vow unto the gods in our prayers: Namely, To forbear both wine
and women, and so to live sober and chaste a whole year together,

Of Meekness 1 3 1

and in the meanwhile to serve God ivith a pure and undefiled heart :
Also, to limit and set out a certain time, wherein we would not
make a lie, observing precisely not to speak any vain and idle word,
either in earnest or in bourd.

With these and such-hke observations also I acquainted and
furnished my soul, as being no less affected to religion and
godliness than studious of learning and philosophy: Namely,
first enjoined myself to pass a certain few holy-days without
being angry or offended upon any occasion whatsoever; no
less than I would have vowed to forbear drunkenness, and
abstain altogether from wine, as if I sacrificed at the feast
Nephalia [wherein no wine was spent], or celebrated the
solemnity Melisponda [in which honey only was used.] Thus,
having made an entrance; I tried afterwards a month or two
by little and little what I could do, and ever I gained more and
more time, exercising myself still to forbear sin with all my power
and might. Thus I proceeded and went forward daily, blessing
myself with good words and striving to be mild, quiet and void
of malice, pure and clean from evil speeches and lewd deeds:
but principally from that passion which for a little pleasure
and the same not very lovely, bringeth with it great troubles
and shameful repentance in the end. Thus with the grace of
Sod assisting me somewhat (as I take it) in this good resolution
ind course of mine, experience itself approved and confirmed
ny first intent and judgment, whereby I was taught. That this
nildness, clemency and debonair humanity is to none of our
amiliars who live and converse daily with us, so sweet, so
)leasant and agreeable as to ourselves who have these virtues
; Jid good qualities within us.

OF CURIOSITY

THE SUMMARY

[The former treatise hath shewed unto us how many mischiefs
and inconveniences anger causeth, teaching us the means how to
beware of it. Now Plutarch dealeth with another vice, no less
dangerous than it, which bendeth to the opposite extremity. For
whereas ire doth so bereave a man of the use of reason during the
access and fit thereof, that the choleric and furious persons differ
not one from another, but in the space of time. This curiosity
which now is in hand, being masked under the name of wisdom and
hability of spirit, is (to say a truth) a covert and hidden fury, which
carrieth the mind of the curious person past himself, for to gather
and heap from all parts the ordure and filthiness of another, and
afterwards to bring the same into himself, and to make thereof a
very storehouse, for to infect his own self first, and then others,
according as the malignity and malice, the follies, backbiting, and
slanders of these curious folk do sufficiently declare. To the end,
therefore, that every man who loveth virtue should divert from
such a meilady, our author sheweth that the principal remedy for
to preserve us from it, is to turn this curiosity to our own selves;
namely, to examine our own persons more diligently than others.
Which point he amplifieth by setting down on the contrary side the
blindness of those who are over-busy and curious. Then cometh he
to declcire why a curious person goeth forth always out of his own
house for to enter into another man's; to wit, because of his own
filthiness, which by that means he cannot smell and perceive; but
whiles he will needs go to stir and rake into the life of others, he
snareth and entangleth himself, and so perisheth in his own folly
and indiscretion. Afterwards proceeding to prescribe the remedies
for the cure of curiosity, when he had deciphered the villanies and
indignities thereof, together with the nature of curious persons, and
the enormous vices which accompany them, he requireth at our
hands that we should not be desirous to know things which be
vile, base, lewd or unprofitable ; that we should hold in our eyes, and
not cast them at random and adventure within the house of another,
that we should not seek after the bruit and rumours that are spread
in meetings and companies; that we otherwhiles should forbear
even such thing.s whereof the use is lawful and permitted: also to
take heed that we do not enter nor sound too deep into our own
affairs; Finally, not to be rash and heady in those things that we
do, be they never so small. All these points premised, he adorneth
with inductions, similitudes and choice examples, and knitteth up
all with one conclusion, which proveth that curious folk ought to
be ranged among the most mischievous and dangerous persons in
the world.]

132

Of Curiosity 133

The best way haply it were altogether to avoid an house and
not therein at all to dwell, which is close, without fresh air, dark,
standing bleak and cold, or otherwise unhealthful: Howbeit, if
a man by reason that he hath been long used to such an house,
delight in that seat, and will there abide, he may either, by
altering the prospects and removing the lights, or by changing
the stairs into another place, or else by opening the doors of
one side, and shutting them upon another, make the house more
lightsome, better exposed to the wind for to receive fresh air,
and in one word, more wholesome than before. And verily
some have much amended whole cities by the like alterations:
as, for example, men say that one Chaeron in times past turned
my native city and place of nativity, Chaeronea, to lie eastward,
^^Mch"beT6re looked toward the western wind Zephyrus, and
received the sun setting from the mount Parnassus. And
Empedocles, the natural philosopher, by stopping up the mouth
or deep chink of a certain mountain between two rocks, which
breathed out a noisome and pestilent southern wind upon all
the champaign country and plain underneath, was thought to
have put by the plague, which, by occasion of that wind,
reigned ordinarily before in that country.

Now forasmuch as there be certain hurtful and pestiferous
passions, which send up into our soul tempestuous troubles and
darkness, it were to be wished that they were chased out quite,
and thrown down to the very ground; whereby we might give
ourselves a free prospect, an open and clear light, a fresh and
pure air; or if we be not so happy, yet at leastwise endeavour
we ought, by all means possible, to change, alter, translate,
transpose and turn them so about, as they may be found more
fit and commodious to serve our turns. As, for example, and
to go no farther for the matter, curiosity, which I take to be a
desire to know the faults and imperfections in other men, is a
v^ice or disease which seemeth not clear of envy and malicious-
less: And unto him that is infected therewith may very well
oe said:

Most spightful and envious man,

Why dost thou ever find
With piercing eyes thy neighbour's faults,
. ^if And in thine own art blind?

ivert thine eyes a little from things without, and turn thy
nuch meddling and curiosity to those that be within. If thou
ake so great a pleasure and delight to deal in the knowledge

134 Plutarch's Morals

and history of evil matters, thou hast work enough iwis at
home, thou shalt find plenty thereof within to occupy thyself :

For look what water rims along

An isthmus or isle we see,
Or leaves lie spread about the oak,

Which numbered cannot be.

Such a multitude shalt thou find of sins in thy life, of passions
in thy soul, and of oversights in thy duties. For like as Xeno-
phon saith, That good stewards of an household have one
proper room by itself for those utensils or implements which
serve for sacrifice ; another for vessel that cometh to the table ;
in one place he layeth up the instruments and tools for tillage
and husbandry, and in another apart from the rest he bestoweth
weapons, armour and furniture for the wars; even so shalt thou
see within thyself a number of manifold vices how they are
digested: some proceeding from envy, others from jealousy;
some from idleness, others from niggardise: take account of
these (I advise thee), survey and peruse them over well: shut all
the doors and windows that yield prospect unto thy neighbours :
stop up the avenues that give access and passage to curiosity:
But set open all other doors that lead into thine own bed-
chamber, and other lodgings for men, into thy wife's cabinet
and the nursery, into the rooms where thy servants keep:
There shalt thou meet wherewith to amuse and busy thyself:
there may curiosity and desire to know everything be employed
in exercises neither unprofitable nor malicious: nay, in such
as be commodious, wholesome and tending to salvation : namely,
whiles every one calleth himself to account, saying thus :

Where have I done, what good I have done.

Or what have I misdone? ...j

Where have I slipt, what duty begun
Is left by me undone ?

But now, according as fables make report, that Lamia the
witch, whiles she is at home is stark blind, and doth nothing
but sing, having her eyes shut up close within a little box; but
when she means to go abroad she takes them forth, and setteth
them in their right place, and seeth well enough with them; even
so, every one of us when we go forth, set unto that evil meaning
and intention which we have to others, an eye to look into them,
and that is curiosity and over-much meddling; but in our own
errors, faults and trespasses we stumble and fail through
ignorance, as having neither eyes to see, nor light about them

Of Curiosity 135

whereby they may be seen. And therefore it is, that a busy
fellow and curious meddler doth more good to his enemies than
to himself; for their faults he discovereth and bringeth to
light, to them he sheweth what they ought to beware of, and
what they are to amend: but all this while he overseeth, or
rather seeth not the most things that are done at home, so
deeply amused he is and busy in spying what is amiss abroad,
Howbeit, wise Ulysses would not abide to speak and confer with
his own mother, before he had inquired of the prophet those
things for which he went down into hell ; and when he had once
heard them, then he turned to his mother and other women
also, asking what was Tyro ? what was Chloris ? and what was
the occasion and cause that Eperaste came by her death?

Who knit her neck within a deadly string,
And so from beam of lofty house did hing.

But we, quite contrary, sitting still in supine idleness and
ignorance, neglecting and never regarding that which con-
cemeth ourselves, go to search into the genealogy and pedigrees
of others; and we can tell readily that our neighbours' grand-
father was no better than a base and servile Syrian; that his
nurse came out of barbarous Thracia; that such an one is in
debt, and oweth three talents, and is behindhand besides and
in arrearages for non-payment of interest for the use thereof.

Inquisitive also we are in such matters as these: From
whence came such a man's wife? what it was that such a one
and such a one spake when they were alone together in an odd
comer? Socrates was clean of another quality; he would go
up and down inquiring and casting about what were the reasons
wherewith Pythagoras persuaded men to his opinion. Aris-
tippus likewise, at the solemnity of the Olympian games, falling
into the company of Ischomachus, asked of him, what were the
persuasions that Socrates used to young folk, whereby they
became so affectionate unto him; and after he had received
from him some small seeds (as it were) and a few samples of those
reasons and arguments, he was so moved and passionate there-
with, that presently his body fell away, he looked pale, poor and
lean, until he having sailed to Athens in this wonderful thirst
and ardent heat, had drunk his fill at the fountain and well-
head itself, known the man, heard his discourses and learned
his philosophy; the sum and effect whereof was this: That a
man should first know his own maladies, and then the means
to be cured and delivered of them. But some there be who

136 Plutarch's Morals

of all things cannot abide to see their own life, as being unto
them the most unpleasant sight of all others ; neither love they
to bend and turn their reason as a light to their own selves : but
their mind being full of all sorts of evil, fearing and ready to
quake for to behold what things are within, leapeth forth (as
one would say) out of doors, and goeth wandering to and fro,
searching into the deeds and words of other men, and by this
means feedeth and fatteth (as it were) her own malicious
naughtiness. For like as a hen many times, having meat
enough within house set before her, loveth to go into some comer,
and there keepeth a-pecking and scraping of the ground,

To find perhaps one seely barley corn
As she was wont on dunghill heretoforn ;

even so these busy polypragmons, passing by those ordinary
speeches and matters which are exposed and open for every
man; not regarding (I say) the reports and narrations which
are free for each one to discourse of, and which neither any
man hath to do, to forbid and warn them for to ask and inquire
of, nor will be displeased if peradventure he should be demanded
and asked the question of them, go up and down in the mean-
time to gather and learn all the secret and hidden evils of every
house. Certes, a pretty answer it was of an Egyptian, and
pertinent to the purpose, who when one asked him what it was
that he carried covered all over, and so enwrapped within a
cloth : Marry (quoth he), covered it is even for this cause, that
thou shouldest not know what it is : And thou likewise, that art
so busy, why dost thou intermeddle in that which is concealed ?
J8e sure that if there were no evil therein, kept close it should
Slot be.

And verily, it is not the manner and custom for anybody to
•enter boldly into the house of another man, without knocking
-at the door; for which purpose we use porters in these days;
whereas in old time there were rings and hammers which served
the turn, and by rapping at the gates, gave warning to those
within, to the end that no stranger might meet the mistress at
unawares in the hall or middes of the house ; or come suddenly
upon a virgin or young damosel her daughter, and find her out
of her chamber; or take some of the servants a-beating, or the
wenches and chamber-maids chiding and scolding aloud : whereas
a busy fellow loveth alife to step secretly into a house, for to
see and hear such disorders; and you shall never know him
willingly to come and see an honest house and well governed

Of Curiosity 137

(though one should call and pray him never so fair), but ready
he is to discover and set abroad in the view of the whole world
such things; for which we use locks, keys, bolts, bars, portals
and gate-houses. Those winds (saith Ariston) are we most
troubled and offended with which drive open our cloaks and
garments that cover us, or blow and whisk them over our heads :
but busy polypragmons doth lay abroad and display not the
cloaks of their neighbours nor their coats ; but discovereth their
walls, setteth wide open their doors, and like a wind, pierceth,
creepeth and entereth so far as to the tender-bodied and soft-
skinned maiden, searching and inquiring in every bacchanal, in
all dancings, wakes and night feasts, for some matter to raise
slanders of her. And as one Cleon was noted by an old comical
poet upon the stage:

Whose hands were both in ^tolie.
But heart and mind in Clopidie;

Even so the spirit of a curious and busy person is at one time
in the stately palaces of rich and mighty men, in the little houses
Df mean and poor folk, in kings' courts, and in the bed-chambers
5f new-wedded wives; it is inquisitive in all matters, searching
IS well the affairs of strangers and travellers, as negotiations of
ords and rulers, and otherwhile not without danger of his own
)erson. For much like as if a man upon a kind of wanton
;uriosity will needs be tasting of aconite or libard-bane, to know
I forsooth) the quality of it, cometh by a mischief and dieth of it
)efore he can know anything thereof; so they that love to be
])rying into the faults of great persons, many times overthrow
ihemselves before they come to any knowledge. For such as
( annot be content with the abundant rays and radiant beams
( f the sun which are spread so clear over all things, but will
1 eeds strive and force themselves impudently to look full upon
1 he circle of his body, and audaciously will presume and venture
1 -) pierce his brightness and enter into the very minds of his
i iward light, commonly dazzle their eyes and become stark
I lind. And therefore well and properly answered Philippides,
t le writer of comedies, upon a time when King Lysimachus
£ Dake thus unto him ; What wouldest thou have me to impart

I nto thee of my goods, Philippides ? What it pleaseth your
r lajesty (quoth he), so it be nothing of your secrets. For to
s ly a truth, the most pleasant and beautiful things simply, which
1: slong to the estate of kings, do shew without, and are exposed

I I the view and sight of every man; to wit, their sumptuous

138 Plutarch's Morals

feasts, their wealth and riches, their magnificent port and pomp
in public places, their bountiful favours, and liberal gifts: But
is there anything secret and hidden within. Take heed, I
advise thee, how thou approach and come near, beware (I say)
that thou do not stir and meddle therein.

The joy and mirth of a prince in prosperity cannot be con-
cealed; he cannot laugh when he is disposed to play and
be merry but it is seen; neither when he mindeth and doth
prepare to shew some gracious favour or to be bountiful unto
any is his purpose hidden; but mark what thing he keepeth
close and secret, the same is terrible, heavy, stem, unpleasant,
yea, ministering no access nor cause of laughter: namely, the
treasure-house (as it were) of some rancour and festered anger;
a deep design or project of revenge; jealousy of his wife, some
suspicion of his own son; or diffidence and distrust in some of
his minions, favourites and friends. Fly from this black cloud
that gathereth so thick; for whensoever that which is now
hidden shall break forth, thou shalt see what cracks of thunder
and flashes of lightning will ensue thereupon.

But what be the means to avoid it.'' Marry (even as I said
before), to turn and to withdraw thy curiosity another way;
and principally to set thy mind upon matters that are more
honest and delectable: Advise thyself and consider curiously
upon the creatures in heaven, in earth, in the air, and in the sea.
Art thou delighted in the contemplation of great or small things ?
if thou take pleasure to behold the greater, busy thyself about
the sun; seek where he goeth down, and from when he riseth?
Search into the cause of the mutations in the moon, why it
should so change and alter as it doth, like a man or woman?
what the reason is that she loseth so conspicuous a light, and
how it cometh to pass that she recovereth it again?

How is it, when she hath been out of sight

That fresh she seems and doth appear with light?

First young and fair whiles that she is but new

Till round and full we see her lovely hew :

No sooner is her beauty at this height

But fade she doth anon, who was so bright,

And by degrees she doth decrease and wane

Until at length she comes to naught again.

And these truly are the secrets of nature, neither is she offended
and displeased with those who can find them out. Distrustest
thou thyself to attain unto these great things? then search
into smaller matters, to wit, what might the reason be that
among trees and other plants, some be always fresh and green,

Of Curiosity 139

why they flourish at all times, and be clad in their gay clothes,
shewing their riches in every season of the year; why others
again be one while like unto them in this their pride and glory;
but afterward you shall have them again like unto an ill husband
in his house; namely, laying out all at once, and spending their
whole wealth and substance at one time, until they be poor,
naked, and beggarly for it. Also what is the cause that some
bring forth their fruit long-wise, others cornered, and others
round or circular? But peradventure thou hast no great mind
to busy thyself and meddle in these matters, because there is
no hurt nor danger at all in them.

Now if there be no remedy, but that curiosity should ever
apply itself to search into evil things after the manner of some
venomous serpent, which loveth to feed, to live and converse
in pestilent woods, let us lead and direct it to the reading of
histories, and present unto it abundance and store of all wicked
acts, lewd and sinful deeds. There shall curiosity find the ruins
of men, the wasting and consuming of their state, the spoil of
wives and other women, the deceitful trains of servants to
beguile their masters, the calumniations and slanderous surmises
raised by friends, poisoning casts, envy, jealousy, shipwreck and
overthrow of houses, calamities and utter undoing of princes
and great rulers: Satisfy thyself herewith to the full, and take
thy pleasure therein as much as thou wilt; never shalt thou
trouble or grieve any of thy friends and acquaintance in so
doing. But it should seem that curiosity delighteth not in such
naughty things that be very old and long since done; but in
those which be fresh, lire new, hot and lately committed, as
joying more to behold new tragedies. As for comedies and
matters of mirth, she is not greatly desirous to be acquainted
with such. And therefore, if a man do make report of a mar-
riage, discourse of a solemn sacrifice, or of a goodly shew or
pomp that was set forth, the curious busybody (whom we speak
of) will take small regard thereto and hear it but coldly and
negligently. He will say that the most part of all this he heard
already by others, and bid him who relateth such narrations to
pass them over or be brief, and cut off many circumstances.
Marry, if one that sits by him chance to set tale on end, and
begin to tell him there was a maiden defloured, or a wife abused
in adultery: if he recount of some process of law or action com-
menced, of discord and variance between two brethren; you shall
see him then not to yawn and gape as though he had list to
sleep; you shall not perceive him to nod; he will make no

140 Plutarch's Morals

excuse at all that his leisure will not serve to hear out the
tale,

But bids say on, and tell us more:
And close he holds his ear therefore.

So that this sentence,

How sooner much are ill news understood
And heard by men (alas) than tidings good!

is well and truly verified of these curious polypragmons. For

like as cupping glasses, boxes, and ventoses draw the worst

matter out of the flesh; even so, the ears of curious and busy

folk are willing to receive and admit the most lewd and

naughtiest speeches that are : or rather, to speak more properly,

as towns and cities have certain cursed and unlucky gates, at

which they send out malefactors to execution, carry and throw

forth their dung, ordure, filthiness, and cleansings whatsoever,

but never cometh in or goeth out that way anything that pure

is and holy; semblably, the ears of these curious intermeddlers

be of the same nature : for there entereth and passeth into them

nothing that is honest, civil and lovely; but the bruit and

rumours of cruel murders have access unto them, and there

make abroad, bringing therewith wicked, abominable, profane

and cursed reports : and as one said :

The only bird that in my house doth ever chant and sing,
Both night and day, is doleful moan, much sorrow and wailing.

So this is the muse, siren and mermaid alone that busy folk
have; neither is there anything that they hearken to more
willingly: for curiosity is an itching desire to hear secrets and
hidden matters : and well you wot that no man will lightly con-
ceal any good thing that he hath ; considering that many times
we make semblance of good parts that be not in us. And there-
fore the busy intermeddler who is so desirous to know and hear
of evils, is subject to that which the Greeks call oTrixa-ipea-KaKta,
a vice, cousin-german or sister rather to envy and eye-biting.

Forasmuch as envy is nothing else but the grief for another
man's good : and the foresaid oTrtx'^ipta-KaKia the joy for his harm:
and verily both these infirmities proceed from an untoward root,
even another untamed vice and savage disposition, to wit,
malignity or malice. And this we know well, that so irksome
and odious it is to every man for to bewray and reveal the
secrets, evils and vices which he hath, that many men have
chosen to die rather than to discover and open unto physicians
^y of their hidden maladies, which they carry about them.
Now suppose that Heraclitus or Erosistratus, the physicians;

Of Curiosity 141

nay, ^sculapius himself, whiles he was a mortal man, should
come to an house furnished with drugs, medicines and instru-
ments requisite for the cure of diseases, and ask whether any
man there had a. fistula in ano, that is, an hollow and hidden
ulcer within his fundament? Or if she be a woman, whether
she have a cankerous sore within her matrice (albeit in this art
such inquisitive curiosity is a special means, making for the
good and the health of the sick): each one, I suppose, would be
ready to hunt and chase away from the house such a physician,
who, unsent for, and before any need required, came upon his
own accord and motion in a bravery to inquire and learn other
folks' maladies.

What shall we say then to these busy meddlers, whp inquire
of another the selfsame infirmities and worse too ? Not of any
mind at all to cure and heal the same, but only to detect and
set them abroad; In which respect they are by good right the
most odious persons in the world. For we hardly can abide
publicans, customers, and toll-gatherers, but are mightily
oflfended with them, not when they exact of us and cause us to
pay toll for any commodities or wares that are openly brought
in; but when they keep a ferreting and searching for such
things as be hidden, and meddle with the wares and carriages
of other men: notwithstanding that law granteth and public
authority alloweth them so to do; yea, and if they do it not,
they sustain loss and damage themselves. But contrariwise,
these curious fellows let their own business alone, and pass not
which end go forward, caring not to hinder themselves, whiles
they be intentive to the affairs of other men. Seldom go they
into the country, for that they cannot endure the quietness and
still silence of the wild and solitary fields. But if haply after
long time they make a start thither, they cast an eye to their
neighbours' vines, rather than to their own; they inquire how
many beeves or oxen of his died? or what quantity of wine
soured under his hand? and no sooner are they full of these
news, but into the city they trudge and make haste again. As
for the good farmer and painful husbandman indeed, he is not
very willing to give ear unto those news, which without his
hearkening after come from the city of the own accord, and
are brought unto him, for his saying is:

My ditcher will anon both tell and talk

Upon what points concluded was the peace,

For now the knave about such news doth walk,
And busy he, to listen doth not cease.

142 Plutarch's Morals '

But in tnithj these busybodies, avoiding country life and hus-
bandry, as a vain trade and foolish occupation, a cold manner
of living, which bringeth forth no great and tragical matter,
intrude and thrust themselves into the high courts of justice,
the tribunal seats, the market-place and public pulpits where
speeches be made unto the people, great assemblies, and the
most frequented quarter of the haven where the ships ride at
anchor, what: No news? saith one of them. How now?
Were you not this morning at the market or in the common
place? What then: How think you, is not the city mightily
changed and transformed within these three hours? Now if it
chance that some one or other make an overture, and have
something to say as touching those points, down he alights on
foot from his horse, he embraceth the man, kisseth him, and
there stands attending and giving ear unto him. But say that
the party whom he thus encountereth and meeteth upon the
way, tell him that he hath no news to report: What sayst thou?
(will he infer again and that in displeasure and discontentment):
Were not thou in the market-place of late? Didst not thou pass
by the prince's court? Hadst thou no talk or conference at all
with those that came out of Italy? In regard of such, therefore,
as these, I hold well with the magistrates of the city Locri, and
commend a law of theirs : That if any citizen had been abroad
in the country, and upon his return home demanded what news ?
he should have a fine set on his head. For like as cooks pray
for nothing but good store of fatlings to kill for the kitchen, and
fishmongers plenty of fishes; even so curious and busy people
wish for a world of troubles and a number of affairs, great news,
alterations and changes of state: to the end that they might
evermore be provided of gain, to chase and hunt after, yea, and
to kill.

Well and wisely, therefore, did the law-giver of the Thurians,
when he gave order and forbade expressly. That no citizen should
be taxed, noted by name, or scoffed at upon the stage in any
comedy, save only adulterers and these busy persons. For
surely adultery may be compared well to a kind of curiosity,
searching into the pleasures of another: seeking (I say) and
inquiring into those matters which are kept secret, and con-
cealed from the view of the whole world. And as for curiosity,
it seemeth to be a resolution or looseness, like a palsy or cor-
ruption, a detection of secrets and laying them naked: For it
is an ordinary thing with those who be inquisitive and desirous
of many news for to be blabs also of their tongues, and to be

Of Curiosity 143

prattling abroad; which is the reason that Pythagoras enjoined
young men five years' silence, which he called echemychia,
abstinence from all speech, or holding of their tongue.

Moreover, it cannot otherwise be chosen but that foul and
cuned language also should accompany curiosity; for look
what thing soever busybodies hear willingly, the same they love
to tell and blurt out as quickly; and such things as with desire
and care they gather from one, they utter to another with joy:
Whereupon it cometh to pass that over and above other incon-
veniences which this vice ministereth unto them that are given
to it, an impediment it is to their own appetite. For as they
desire to know much, so every man observeth them, is beware
of them, and endeavoureth to conceal all from them. Neither
are they willing to do anything in their sight, nor delighted to
speak aught in their hearing, but if there be any question in
hand to be debated, or business to be considered and consulted
of, all men are content to put off the conclusion and resolution
unto another time; namely, until the curious and busy person
be out of the way. And say, that whiles men are in sad and
secret conference, or about some serious business, there chance
one of these busybodies to come in place, presently all is hushed,
and everything is removed aside and hidden, no otherwise than
folk are wont to set out of the way victuals where a cat doth
haunt, or when they see her ready to run by ; insomuch as many
times those things which other men may both hear and see
safely, the same may not be done or said before them only.

Therefore also it foUoweth by good consequence, that a busy
and curious person is commonly so far out of credit that no man
is willing to trust him for anything; in such sort that we commit
our letters missive and sign manual sooner to our servants and
mere strangers than to our friends and familiars, if we perceive
them given to this humour of much meddling. But that worthy
knight Bellerophontes was so far from this, that he would not
break open those letters which he carried, though they were
written against himself, but forbare to touch the king's epistle,
no less than he abstained from the queen his wife, even by one
and the same virtue of continence. For surely, curiosity is a
kind of incontinency, as well as is adultery; and this moreover
it hath besides, that joined there is with it much folly and
extreme want of wit: For were it not a part (think you) of
exceeding blockish senselessness, yea, and madness in the
highest degree, to pass by so many women that be common,
and everywhere to be had; and then to make means with great

144 Plutarch's Morals

cost and expense, to some one kept under lock and key, and
besides sumptuous : notwithstanding it fall out many times that
such an one is as ill-favoured as she is foul? Semblably, and
even the same do our curious folk: they omit and cast behfnd
them many fair and goodly sights to behold, many excelient
lectures worth the hearing, many disputations, discourses, honest
exercises and pastimes; but in other men's letters they keep a
puddering, they open and read them, they stand like eaves-
droppers under their neighbours' walls, hearkening what is done
or said within, they are ready to intrude themselves to listen
what whispering there is between servants of the house; what
secret talk there is among silly women when they be in some
odd corner, and, as many times they are by this means not free
from danger, so always they meet with shame and infamy.

And therefore very expedient it were for such curious folk,
if they would shift off and put by this vice of theirs, eftsoons
to call to mind (as much as they can) what they have either
known or heard by such inquisition: for if (as Simonides was
wont to say) that when he came (after some time between) to
open his desks and coffers, he found one which was appointed for
gifts and rewards always full, the other ordained for thanks and
the graces void and empty: so, a man after a good time past,
set open the store-house of curiosity, and look into it what is
therein, and see it top full of many unprofitable, vain and
unpleasant things; peradventure the very outward sight and
face thereof will discontent and offend him, appearing in every
respect so loveless and toyish as it is. Go to then: if one should
set in hand to turn over leaf by leaf the books of ancient writers,
and when he hath picked forth and gathered out the worst,
make one volume of all together, to wit, of those headless and
unperfect verses of Homer, which haply begin with a short
syllable, and therefore be called dKc<^aAo6 : or of the solecisms
and incongruities which be found in tragedies: or of the un-
decent and intemperate speeches which Archilochus framed
against women, whereby he defamed and shamed himself:
were he not (I pray you) worthy of this tragical curse:

A foul ill take thee, thou lewd wretch.

That lovest to collect
The faults of mortal men now dead.

The living to infect.

But to let these maledictions alone, certes, this treasuring and
scoring up by him of other men's errors and misdeeds, is both
unseemly, and also unprofitable : much like unto that city which

Of Curiosity 145

Philip built of purpose, and peopled it with the most wicked,
graceless and incorrigible persons that were in his time, calling
it Poneropolis when he had so done.

And therefore these curious meddlers in collecting and gather-
ing together on all sides the errors, imperfections, defaults, and
solecisms (as I may so say) not of verses or poems, but of other
men's lives, make of their memory a most unpleasant archive or
register, and uncivil record, which they ever carry about them.
And like as at Rome, some there be who never cast eye toward
any fine pictures, or goodly statues, no, nor so much as make
any account to cheapen beautiful boys and fair wenches which
there stand to be sold, but rather go up and down the market
where monsters in nature are to be bought, seeking and learning
out where be any that want legs, whose arms and elbows turn
the contrary way like unto cats ; or who have three eyes apiece
in their heads, or be headed like unto the ostrich: taking
pleasure (I say) to see if there be bom

A mongrel mixt of divers sorts,

False births, unkind or strange aborts.

But if a man should bring them to see such sights as these
)rdinarily, the very thing itself would soon give them enough,
/ea and breed a loathing in them of such ugly monsters; even
o it fareth with those who busy themselves and meddle in
earching narrowly into the imperfections of other men's lives,
he reproaches of their stocks and kindred, the faults, errors,
;ind troubles that have happened in other houses; if they call
o mind what like defects they have found and known before-
ime, they shall soon find that their former observations have
( lone them small pleasure, or wrought them as little profit.

But the greatest means to divert this vicious passion is use
i nd custom ; namely, if we begin a great way off and long
1 'efore to exercise and acquaint ourselves in a kind of continency
i 1 this behalf, and so learn to temper and rule ourselves ; for
.' urely use it was and custom that caused this vice to get such
{ n head, increasing daily by little and little, and growing from
^ 'orse to worse : But how and after what manner we should be
i lured to this purpose we shall see and understand as we treat
( f exercise withal.

First and foremost, therefore, begin we will at the smallest
i nd most slender things, and which most quickly may be
(iected. For what matter of difficulty is it for a man in the
\ ay as he travelleth, not to amuse and busy his head in reading

146

Plutarch's Morals

epitaphs or inscriptions of sepulchres ? or what pain is it for us
as we walk along the galleries, to pass over with our eyes the
writings upon the walls ; supposing thus much secretly within
ourselves, as a maxim or general rule: That there is no goodness,
no pleasure, nor profit at all in such writings : for there you may
read, That some one doth remember another, and make mention
of him by way of hearty commendations in good part; or such
an one is the best friend that I have, and many other such-like
mottoes are there to be seen and read, full of toys and vanities,
which at first seem not to do any hurt if one read them, but in
truth, secretly they do much harm, in that they breed in us a
custom and desire to seek after needless and impertinent matters.
For like as hunters suffer not their hounds to range out of order,
nor to follow every scent, but keep them up and hold them in
by their collars, reserving by that means their smelling pure
and neat altogether for their proper work, to the end that they
should be more eager and hot to trace the footing of their game,
and as the poet saith:

With scent most quick of nostrils after kind,
The tracks of beast so wild, in chase to find;

even so, we ought to cut off these excursions and foolish trains
that curious folk make to hear and see everything; to keep
them short (I say) and turn them another way to the seeing
and hearing only of that which is good and profitable. Also,
as we observe in eagles and lions, that whiles they go upon the
ground they draw their talons and claws inward, for fear lest
they should dull the sharp edge and wear the points thereof; so
considering that curiosity hath a certain quick conceit and fine
edge (as it were), apt to apprehend and know many things, let
us take heed that we do not employ and blunt the same in the
worst and vilest of all others.

Secondly, we are to accustom ourselves as we pass by another
man's door not to look in, nor to cast our eyes to anything
whatsoever that there is: for that the eye is one of the hands
that curiosity useth. But let us always have in readiness and
think upon the apothegm of Xenocrates, who was wont to say
that it skilled not, but was all one, whether we set our feet or
eyes within the house of another man. For it is neither meet
and just, nor an honest and pleasant sight, according to the
old verse:

My friend or stranger, whatever you be,
You shall within all things deformed see.

Of Curiosity 1 47

And what be those for the most part which are seen in houses?
dishes, trenchers and such-Hke utensils and small vessels lying
on the bare ground, or one upon another disorderly: the
wenches set and doing just nothing: and lightly a man shall
not find ordinarily ought of importance or delight. Now the
very cast of the eye upon such things doth therewith turn away
the mind; the intentive looking thereupon is unseemly, and
the using thereof stark naught. Diogenes verily upon a time
seeing Dioxippus, when he entered in his triumphant chariot
into the city for winning the best prize at the Olympian games,
how as he rode he could not chuse but set his eye upon a
certain fair damosel, who was in place to behold this pomp and
solemn entrance of his, but evermore his eye followed her,
whether she were before or behind him : Behold (quoth he) our
victorious and triumphant champion, how a young wench hath
him sure enough by the neck, and doth writhe him which way
she list! Semblably, see you not how these curious folk have
their necks bended aside at every foolish sight, and how they
turn about with each vanity that they hear and see, after once
they have gotten an habit or custom to look every way and to
carry a rolling eye in their heads? But in mine opinion it is
not meet that our senses should gad and wander abroad, like
a wild and untaught girl, but when reason hath sent it forth
to some business; after it hath been there employed and done
the errand about which it was set, to return speedily again unto
her mistress the soul, and make report how she hath sped and
what she hath done? and then aftenvards to stay at home
decently like a modest waiting-maiden, giving attendance upon
reason, and ready always at her command. But now happeneth
that which Sophocles saith:

The headstrong jades that will no bit abide,

Hate him perforce who should them rein and guide.

The senses having not met with good instructions (as I said
Defore), nor been trained to right ways, run before reason upon
:heir own accord, and draw with them many times the under-
standing, and send it headlong after such things as are not
;eemly and decent. And therefore false is that which is com-
nonly reported of Democritus the philosopher: namely, that
villingly he dimmed and quenched (as it were) his own sight,
)y fixing his eyes fast upon a fiery and ardent mirror, to take
he reverberation of the light from thence, to the end that they
hould not disturb the mind by calling out eftsoons the inward

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intelligence, but suffer it to keep house within, and to be
employed in objects intellectual, as if the windows that regard
the street and highway were shut up. Howbeit most true it is,
that those who for the most part occupy their understanding
have least use of their senses: which is the reason that in old
time they both builded the temples of the Muses, that is to say,
houses ordained for students, which they named Musaea, as far
as they could from cities and great towns: and also called the
night Euphrone, as one would say, a friend to sage advice and
counsel; as supposing that quiet rest, repose and stillness from
all disturbance make very much for contemplation, and inven-
tion of those things that we study and seek for.

Moreover, no harder matter is it nor of greater difficulty than
the rest, when in the open market-place or common hall, men
are at high words, reproaching and reviling one another, not to
approach and come near unto them. Also, if there be any
great concourse and running of people together upon some
occasion, not to stir at all but sit still, or if thou art not able to
contain and rule thyself, to rise up and go thy ways. For
surely gain thou shalt no good at all by intermeddling with such
busy and troublesome persons; but contrariwise, much fruit
mayst thou reap by turning away such curiosity, in repressing
the same and constraining it by use and custom to obey reason.

Having made this good entrance and beginning, to proceed
now unto farther and stronger exercise, it were very good,
whensoever there is any play exhibited upon the stage in a
frequent theatre, where there is assembled a great audience to
hear and see some worthy matter for to pass by it, and to put
back thy friends who solicit thee to go thither with them, for
to see either one dance excellent well, or to act a comedy; nor
so much as to turn back when thou hearest some great shout
and outcry, either from out of the race or the grand-cirque,
where the horse-running is held for the prize. For like as
Socrates gave counsel to forbear those meats which provoke
men to eat when they are not hungry, and those drinks which
incite folk to drink when they have no thirst; even so, we ought
to avoid and beware how we either see or hear anything what-
soever, which may either draw or hold us thereto, when there
is no need at all thereof. The noble Prince Cyrus would not
so much as see fair Lady Panthea, and when Araspes, one of
his courtiers and minions, made report unto him that she was
a woman of incomparable beauty, and therefore worthy to be
looked on: Nay, rather (quoth he) for that cause I ought to

Of Curiosity 1 49

forbear the sight of her; for if by your persuasion I should yield
to go and see her, it may peradventure fall out so that she
herself might tempt and induce me again to repair unto her;
even then haply when I shall not have such leisure, yea, and sit
by her and keep her company, neglecting in the meantime the
weighty affairs of the state. In like manner Alexander the Great
would not come within the sight of King Darius his wife, not-
withstanding that she was reported unto him for to be a most
gallant and beautiful lady: Her mother, an ancient dame and
elderly matron, he did not stick to visit, but the young gentle-
woman her daughter (fresh, fair and young) he could not be
brought so much as once to see. As for us, we can cast a wanton
eye secretly into the coaches and horse-litters of wives and
women as they ride, we can look out of our windows, and hang
with our bodies half forth, to take the full view of them as they
pass by: and all this while we think that we commit no fault,
suffering our curious eye and wandering mind to slide and run
to everything.

Moreover, it is meet and expedient for the exercise of justice,
otherwhiles to omit that which well and justly might be done;
to the end that by that means a man may acquaint himself to
keep far off from doing or taking anything unjustly. Like as it
maketh much for temperance and chastity, to abstain other-
whiles from the use of a man's own wife, that thereby he might
be never moved to lust after the wife of his neighbour; taking
this course likewise against curiosity, strive and endeavour
sometimes to make semblance as though thou didst neither
hear nor see those things that properly concern thyself: And
if a man come and bring thee a tale of matters concerning thine
Dwn household, let it pass and put it over, yea, and those words
ivhich seem to have been spoken as touching thine own person,
:ast them behind and give no ear thereto. For default of this
iiscretion, it was the inquisitive curiosity of King CEdipus which
entangled and enwrapped him in exceeding great calamities and
niseries: for when he would needs know who himself was, as
f he had been not a Corinthian but a stranger, and would needs
^o therefore to the oracle for to be resolved, he met with Laius
lis own father by the way, whom he slew, and so espoused his
)wn mother, by whose means he came to be King of Thebes:
ind even then, when he seemed to be a most happy man, he
:ould not so stay, but proceeded further to inquire concerning
limself, notwithstanding his wife did what she possibly could
o dissuade him from it; but the more earnest she was with him

150 Plutarch's Morals

that way, the more instant was he with an old man who was
privy to all, using all means to enforce him for to bewray that
secret: at length, when the thing itself was so pregnant that it
brought him into farther suspicion, and withal when the said
old man cried out in this manner:

Alas, how am I at the point perforce
To utter that which will cause remorse?

the king, surprised still with his humour of curiosity, notwith-
standing he was vexed at the very heart, answered:

And I likewise for my part am as near
To hear as much, but yet I must it hear.

So bitter-sweet is that itching-smart humour of curiosity, like
unto an ulcer or sore, which the more it is rubbed and scratched,
the more it bleedeth and bloodieth itself. Howbeit he that is
delivered from this disease, and besides of nature mild and gentle,
so long as he is ignorant and knoweth not any evil accident,
may thus say:

O blessed saint, when evils are past and gone,
How sage and wise art thou, oblivion.

And therefore we must by little and little accustom ourselves
to this, that when there be any letters brought unto us, we do
not open them presently and in great haste, as many do, who
if their hands be not quick enough to do the feat, set their teeth
to, and gnaw in sunder the threads that sewed them up fast.
Also, if there be a messenger coming toward us from a place
with any tidings, that we run not to meet him, nor so much as
once rise and stir for the matter; and if a friend come unto thee
saying, I have some news to tell you of: Yea, marry (must you
say again), but I had rather that you brought me something
indeed that were profitable, fruitful and commodious. I remem-
ber upon a time when I declaimed and read a lecture at Rome,
that orator Rustius, whom afterwards Domitian put to death
for envy that he bare to his glory, happened to be there to hear
me: Now in the midst of my lecture there came into the place
a soldier with letters from the emperor, which he delivered to
Rustius aforesaid, whereupon there was great silence in the
school, and I myself made some pause, whiles he might read
the letter, but he would not read it then, nor so much as break
it open before I had made an end of my discourse, and dismissed
the auditory: for which all the company there present highly
praised and admired the gravity of the man.

Of Curiosity 1 5 1

Now if one do feed and nourish all that he can (be it but in
lawful and allowable things) this vein and humour of curiosity,
so as thereby it becometh in the end mighty and violent, it will
not be an easy matter to restrain and hold it in when it shall
break out and run on end to such things as be unlawful and
forbidden, by reason that it is so used already to intermeddle •
and be doing. But such men as these break open and unseal
letters (as I said), intrude themselves into the secret counsels of
their friends; they will needs discover and see those sacred
mysteries which it is not lawful for to see; in place whereunto
there is no lawful access they love to be walking; inquire they
do into the secret deeds and words of kings and princes; and
notwithstanding there be nothing in the world that causeth
tyrants, who must of necessity know all, so odious as this kind
of people, who be called their ears (promoters, I mean, and
spies), who hear all and bring all unto their ears. The first that
ever had about him these otacoustes (as a man would say,
princes' ears) was Darius the younger; a prince distrusting
himself, suspecting also and fearing all men. As for those
which were called prosagogidcB, that is to say, courries, spies
and informers, the Dionysii, tyrants of Sicily, intermingled such
among the Syracusans: whereupon, when the state was altered,
those were the first that the Syracusans apprehended and
massacred. Also those whom we call sycophants are of the
confraternity, house and lineage of these curious persons, save
only this difference there is, that sycophants inquire what evil
any man hath either designed or committed; whereas our
polypragmons hearken after and discover the very calamities
and misadventures of their neighbours, which happen even
against their will and purpose: and when they have so done,
set them abroad to the view of the whole world.

Furthermore, it is said that the name aliterius came up first
by occasion of this over-much meddling, called curiosity. For
when there was (by all likelihood) a great famine at Athens, they
that had com kept it in and would not bring it abroad to the
market, but privily and in the night ground the same into meal
within their houses: Now these fellows, named aliterii, would
go up and down closely hearkening where the quern or mill
went, and thereupon took the said name. Semblably, as it is
reported, the name of sycophants arose upon the like occasion:
for when there was a law made, forbidding that any figs should
be carried forth out of the land, such promoters as bewrayed
the delinquents and gave information against those that con-

152 Plutarch's Morals

veyed figs away, were also thereupon called sycophants. To
conclude, therefore, it were not unprofitable for these curious
polypragmons (of whom we have discoursed all this while) to
know thus much; That they might be ashamed in themselves
to be noted for manners and profession to be like unto those
who are accounted the most odious and hateful persons in the
world.

OF THE TRANQUILLITY AND CONTENT-
MENT OF MIND

THE SUMMARY

[In this treatise a man may see the excellent discourses and most
sound arguments of moral philosophy; the scope whereof is to
make the scholars and students therein resolute, and to keep them
from wavering and tottering to and fro; notwithstanding that either
the sky were ready to fall upon their heads, or the earth to chink
and open under their feet. True it is, that in this place Plutarch
sheweth sufficiently what blindness there is in human wisdom, when
the question is to pronounce and speak precisely, Wherein consisteth
true repose and assured felicity? For to teach a man whom he
calleth virtuous, to search for contentment and quiet rest in his
own reason, were as much as to fetch light out of darkness and life out
of death itself. And therefore (for this time) needless it is to treat
long upon this point, considering that we mind not to dispute or
declare how insufficient human learning and philosophy is, in com-
parison of true divinity and theology. For the present this may
suffice, that seeing he was no better than a pagan who hath disputed
of this theme, let us receive both this discourse and other such,
wherein he endeavoureth to withdraw us from vice, and bring us
unto virtue, as written and penned by a man, guided and conducted
by a dim and dark light : in which notwithstanding appear certain
sparks of the truth, which as they are not able to shew the way suffi-
ciently, so they give them to understand, who be far remote from
the true light, how miserable and wretched they are every way.
Proved he had before, that flattery, choler, and curiosity are vices
that overturn the soul upside down, and transport it so far off that
it is not at home, nor mistress of herself: and after he had taught
how a man might reclaim and reduce her again to her own house,
lie treateth now of those means whereby she may be kept quiet,
peaceable, joyous and contented within. For the effecting hereof,
it the very entry of this treatise, he proposeth one expedient mean
to attain thereto, requiring that a man should fortify and defend
lis mind with reasons against the evils and dangers to come : then he
;onfuteth the Epicureans, who for to set a man in peace, would
nake him blockish, senseless, and good for nothing: he answereth
ikewise to those who are of opinion that a man may find a certain
and of vacation and impassibility without all trouble and molesta-
;ion: which done, he sheweth that reason well ruled and ordered
s the foundation and ground of our tranquillity: and all in one
ind the same train, he teacheth how a man may be furnished and
issisted with this reason. Having thus sufficiently in general terms
liscoursed of these premises, he doth particularise and decipher

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154 Plutarch's Morals

the same point by point, giving fifteen several counsels, whereby a
man may attain to this contentment and repose of spirit ; the which
we have distinguished particularly, and shewed in each one the
substance of them, which I thought not good to insert in this
place, because the summary should not exceed overmuch. Further-
more, the said counsels be enriched with notable examples, simili-
tudes and sentences; which (no doubt) would have been much
more forcible and effectual, if the principal indeed had been joined
therewith, to wit, true piety and religion: which hath been clean
omitted by the author, who indeed never knew what was the only
true and perfect tranquillity of the soul. Howbeit, wonderful it is,
how he should proceed so far as he doth, having no other help and
means but his own self: which may so much the better serve our
turns, considering that we have aids and guides far more excellent
to bring us so far, as to make entry, and take assured possession of
that sovereign good and felicity, whereof he here speaketh.]

Plutarch to Paccius sendeth greeting, — Overlate it was before
I received your letter, wherein you requested me to write
somewhat as touching the tranquilHty of the soul, and withal
of certain places in Plato's dialogue TimcBus, which seem to
require more exact exposition: but so it happened, that at the
very same time, your friend and mine, Eros, had occasion to
sail with speed to Rome, upon the receipt of certain letters from
that right worshipful gentleman Fundanus, by virtue whereof
he was to depart suddenly and to repair unto him with all
expedition. By which occasion having not sufficient time and
leisure to perform your request in such manner as I purposed,
and yet unwilling that the man coming from me should be seen
of you empty-handed; I have collected certain notes, chosen
out of those commentaries which for mine own memory and
private use I had compiled long before, concerning this argu-
ment, to wit. The Tranquillity and Contentment of Spirit:
supposing that you also demand this present discourse, not for
any pleasure that you take to read a treatise penned curiously,
and affecting or hunting after fine phrases and exquisite words ;
but only in regard of some doctrine that may serve your turn
and help you to the framing of your life as you ought; knowing
withal full well (for the which I do congratulate and rejoice
heartily on your behalf) that notwithstanding your inward ac-
quaintance, friendship and favour with the best and principal
persons of the city, and that for eloquence you come behind none
that plead causes at the bar in open court, but are reputed a sin-
gular orator, yet for all that, you do not as that tragical Merops,
suffer yourself foolishly and beyond the course of nature to be
carried away as he was with the vainglory and applause of the

Tranquillity and Contentment 155

multitude^ when they do admire and account you happy there-
fore; but still you keep in memory that which oftentime you
have heard from us; That it is neither a rich patrician's shoe that
cureth the gout in the feet; nor a costly and precious ring that
healeth the whitflaw or felon in the fingers; nor yet a princely
diadem that easeth the headache. For what use is there at all of
goods and riches to deliver the soul from grief and sorrow, or to
lead a life in rest and repose, without cares and troubles ? What
good is there of great honours, promotions, and credit in court?
unless they that have them know how to use the same well and
honestly; and likewise if they be without them, can skill how
to find no miss of them, but be always accompanied with con-
tentment ; never coveting that which is not ? And what is this
else but reason accustomed and exercised beforehand, quickly
to restrain and eftsoons to reprehend the passionate and un-
reasonable part of the soul, which is given oftentimes to break
3ut of her bounds : and not to suffer her to range and vague at
ler pleasure, and to be transported by the objects presented
anto her?

Like as therefore Xenophon giveth us good counsel: Always
;o remember the gods, and most of all to worship and honour
;hem when we are in prosperity, to the end that whensoever
ve stand in need, we may more boldly invocate and call upon
iiem, with full assurance that they will supply our necessities,
)eing thus beforehand made propitious and gracious unto us;
;ven so, wise men and such as are of good conceit, ought always

0 be furnished and well provided of reasons sufficient to serve
heir turn for to encounter their passions before they arise, to
he end that being once laid up in store, they may do most good
vhen time serveth. For as curst and angry mastiffs by nature,

• vhich at every noise that they hear keep an eager baying and
\ )arking as if they were affrighted, become quiet and appeased
1 )y one only voice which is familiar unto them, and wherewith
" hey have been acquainted ; so it is no small pain and trouble
■ o still and compose the passions of the mind (skittish as they
1 >e and grown wild) unless a man have ready at hand proper
i nd familiar reasons to repress the same so soon as ever they begin
1 0 stir and grow out of order.

Now as touching those who affirm that if a man would live
: 1 tranquillity and rest, he ought not to meddle nor deal in

1 lany affairs, either in public or private : First and foremost
1 bus I say, that they would make us pay dear for tranquillity
< f mind, when they would have us buy it with idleness and doing

156

Plutarch's Morals

nothing; which were as much as if they advised each one to
do as Electra did to her sick brother Orestes, when she said
unto him :

Lie still, poor wretch, and keep thy bed.
Stir not from thence, and have no dread.

But surely as this were untoward physic for the body, to pre-
scribe for the allaying of pain a medicine that would benumb
and stupefy the senses; so. verily he were no better physician
for the soul, who to deliver her from trouble and grief, ordained
that she should be made idle, slugglish, soft and tender, which,
in one word, is as much as to forget all duty and to betray
friends, kinsfolk and country. Moreover, a false position it is:
That they enjoy tranquillity of life who intermeddle not in much
business: for if that were true, women should live in more
repose and quietness of mind than men, forasmuch as they
keep home and sit still within doors for the most part, and
seldom go abroad: but now, although it cannot be denied but
that as the poet Hesiodus saith:

Cold Boreas, a wind that blows

From northern pole full oft.
Doth never pierce the tender skin

Of damsel smooth and soft,

yet many heart-griefs, troubles, perturbations, discontentments
and cares arising upon jealousy, superstition, pride, ambition,
foolish and vain opinions (which are so many as hardly a man
is able to number them) find way and entrance even to the
secret chambers and cabinets of our fine and dainty dames:
And Laertes, who lived apart for the space of tv/enty years in
the country.

With one old woman and no more

Who meat and drink set him before,

far from his native country, his own home, from court and king-
dom ; yet nevertheless he had always dwelling with him sadness
of heart, accompanied with languishing, idleness and heavy
silence. And more than that, this non-employment in affairs
is that which many times hath cast some men into a dumpish
melancholy and heaviness of spirit, like to him of whom Homer
thus writeth:

Here sat Achilles, swift of foot, by line descended right ■■

From Jupiter, though son he were of Peleus worthy knight,
And stirr'd not from his fleet in road, but in an angry fit
Would neither fight in open field, nor yet in counsel sit :
Thus idle he abode so long until his heart within
Consum'd, and nothing wisb'd he more than battle to begin.

Tranquillity and Contentment 157

Whereupon, being in a passionate humour, and thinking it a
great indignity thus to wear away and do nothing, he breaketh
forth himself afterwards into this speech:

But here sit I close to my ships, from action more and less
An idle lusk to load the earth, I cannot but confess.

Insomuch as Epicurus himself, that great patron and maintainer
of pleasure, would not advise nor thinketh meet that those who
by nature are of an ambitious and aspiring mind, or desirous of
glory, should take their ease and sit still, but by the guidance
and direction of their natural inclination, to manage the weighty
affairs of state and govern the commonweal: saying, that men
bom for action would be more troubled and discontented in
mind with doing nothing, namely, when they see how they miss
and fail of that which so greatly they desired. Howbeit I must
note the absurd folly of the man and his want of judgment, in
that he seemeth to call and exhort unto the rule of weal-public
not those who are able and sufficient, but such only as cannot
away with a private life and sitting still: neither ought we to
measure and determine either the tranquillity or trouble of the
spirit by the paucity or multitude of affairs, but rather by their
lonesty or dishonesty: for as we have already said, no less
discontentment and trouble groweth to the mind by neglecting
and omitting things honest, than by affecting and committing
things dishonest. As for those who have determinately set by
me special kind of life as void of all grief and trouble, to wit,
iome making choice to live as husbandmen in tillage of the
^ound; others to lead a single and unmarried life, and some
igain have esteemed a king's life to be it: to such Menander
answereth prettily in these verses:

I thought one while that rich and moneyed men,
O Phanias, who were not hard bestead
To pay for use in every hundred ten.
Do neither groan nor sigh all night in bed :
Nor as they turn and toss from top to toe
Eftsoons, woe is me, alas, what shall I do ?
Breathe out from heart full pensive and opprest.
But sweetly take repose and sleep in rest.

Vnd coming more nearly unto the point, when he perceived that
ich men were as restless and as much disquieted as the poor,
le concludeth thus:

But now, I wot, that life and pensive pain

Are near of kin and cousin-germans twain.

Who live in wealth, I see, feel grief of heart, i

And men in honour, of sorrows have their part ■ .

No less than those whose want and penury ' * * <

Doth age with them and keep them company.

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And the case is all one as with those that be either timorous
or stomach-sick at sea, when they be under sail: for supposing
that they shall be better at ease, they go out of a bark into a
brigandine, and out of it into a galley: but they find no good
thereby, for that they carry about them still choler and a false
heart, which are the cause of this their distemperature; even
so, eftsoons to change from one course of life unto another, is
not the means to deliver the mind from troubles and perturba-
tions, which hinder the repose and quietness thereof. And
what be these troubles? even want of experience in affairs;
inconsiderate rashness and default of discretion; insufficiency
and want of knowledge how to use and accommodate things
aright to the present occasions. These be they that molest and
vex as well the rich as the poor; these torment and hurt single
persons no less than married folk. In regard hereof, some
having bidden the court and civil affairs farewell, yet soon after
again could not away with a private and quiet life. And for no
other cause but this, many make all the means they can to be
advanced to high places, and to insinuate themselves into
princes' courts; and when they have attained thereto, anon
repent them and mislike of that course : But true it is the poet
Ion saith:

He that lieth sick is hard to please.
He wants advice that should him ease.

Por his wife is a trouble unto him; the physician he findeth
fault with, and the bed is not to his mind ; besides :

A friend comes to visit, he welcomes him nought,
And when he departs, unkind he is thought.

But afterwards, as the disease beginneth to break away or
decline, and the former temperature of the body to return,
health cometh again, which maketh everything pleasant and
agreeable; insomuch as he who the day before was ready upon
a peevishness of stomach to cast up dainty eggs, fine amydum
and marchpain, and the fairest cooked manchet that is, will be
content the morrow after, yea, and glad with all his heart to
feed savourly and with a good stomach of downright household
"bread, of some olives or cresses.

Such a contentment and alteration worketh judgment of
reason in every kind and course of life. It is reported that
King Alexander the Great, hearing Anaxarchus the philosopher
discoursing and maintaining this position: That there were
worlds innumerable: fell a-weeping: and when his friends and

Tranquillity and Contentment 159

familiars about him asked what he ailed. Have I not (quoth
he) good cause to weep, that being as there are an infinite
number of worlds, I am not yet the lord of one? Whereas
Crates, having no more than a wallet at his neck and a poor
threadbare cloak upon his back, spent his whole life in mirth
and joy, laughing always full merrily as if it had been always a
festival holiday. As for Agamemnon, he complained in these
words, and thought it an intolerable burden to be a king and
commander of so great a people :

Wot well you see Atreus his son.

King Agamemnon hight:
Whom Jupiter clogs more with care

Than any mortal wight.

Contrariwise Diogenes, when he was to be bought and sold
among other slaves in open market, scoffed at the crier who
made sale; and lying along on the ground, would not so much
as rise when he was bidden to stand up, but cavilled with him
after a mocking and jesting manner. What (quoth he), and if
you sold a fish would you bid it rise up? Likewise .Socrates
discoursed familiarly with his fellows and followers as touching
philosophy, even when he was in prison. Whereas Phaethon,
notwithstanding he was mounted up into heaven, wept for anger
and despight that no man would give him the rule and regiment
of the chariot-steeds belonging to the sun his father. And as
a shoe is wrested and turned according to the fashion of a
crooked or splay-foot, but never doth the foot writhe to the
form of a shoe ; even so it is for all the world with the dispositions
of men's minds; they frame their lives and make them like
thereto. For it is not use and custom that causeth the best life
to be pleasant also unto them that have made choice thereof,
as some one haply is of opinion; but wisdom rather and dis-
cretion maketh that life which is best to be also sweetest and
most pleasant. Since that therefore the source and fountain of
all tranquillity and contentment of spirit is in ourselves, let us
cleanse and purify the same spring as clean as possibly we can,
that all outward and casual occurrences whatsoever may be
made familiar and agreeable unto us, knowing once how to use
them well.

If things go cross, we ought not, iwis,
To fret ; for why ? such choler will not boot :
But he that knows when ought is done amiss,
To set all straight, shall 'chieve full well, I wot.

Plato therefore compared our life to a game at tables; wherein

i6o Plutarch's Morals

the player is to wish for the luckiest cast of the dice, but what-
soever his chance is, he must be sure to play it well, and make
the best of it: Now of these two points, the former, to wit, a
good throw, is not in our power and choice; but the other
resteth in us, namely, whatsoever our lot is, to take in good
worth and to dispose everything in that place where it may
profit most if it fortuned well: and contrariwise, if it fell out
cross, where it may do least harm. This (I say) is our part and
duty to perform, if we be as wise as we should be. As for brain-
sick fools, and such as know not how to carry themselves in
this life (like unto those that have crazy and diseased bodies,
who neither can abide burning heat nor chilling cold), as in
prosperity they spread and set up their sails too high, so in
adversity they strike them as low. Troubled they are mightily
with both extremities ; or to speak more truly, with themselves,
as much in the one as the other, and no less in that state which
yieldeth those things that we call and repute goods. Theodorus,
that infamous philosopher who for his profane opinion was
surnamed Atheos, that is to say, the atheist, was wont to say:
That he delivered his speeches with the right hand to his
auditors and scholars, but they took the same with their left;
even so ignorant and untaught persons many times when fortune
presenteth herself unto them on the right hand, receive her
awkly, turning to the left side undecently, and by that means
commit many untoward and lewd parts. But those that be
wise do far better : for as thyme yieldeth unto bees the quickest
and driest honey, even so they out of the most unfortunate
accidents that be, can skill oftentimes to get jomewhat which is
agreeable and commodious unto themselves.

This is then the first and principal point wherein a man ought
to be trained and exercised, upon this must he study and
meditate. And like as that fellow, when he flung a stone at a
curst bitch, missed her, and chanced to hit his step-mother,
saying withal : It makes no matter ; for it hath not lighted amiss ;
even so we may turn all our fortune to our own purpose, and
make the best use of it, in case things fall out otherwise than we
would or meant. Diogenes his hap was to be banished and
driven out of his own country; yet this exile of his proved not
ill to him ; for by that means and thereupon he began to study
and profess philosophy. Zeno, the Cittiaean, had but one
frigate or fly-boat left him, and hearing news that both it and
all therein was cast away, drowned and perished in the midst of
the sea: O Fortune (quoth he), thou hast done well to drive

Tranquillity and Contentment i6i

us again to put on our poor and simple scholar's habit, and to

send us to our gallery and school of philosophy.

What should hinder us, then, but that we may follow the

examples of these men. Art thou deprived and put out of some

public office or magistracy which thou didst exercise ? Go and

live in the country; there follow thine own business, and ply

thy private affairs. Hast thou made suit and great means to

be entertained in the court, and to wind into special favour

with some prince and potentate, and after all thy travail suffered

repulse? Well, thou shalt live privately at home, without

danger, without trouble. Again, Art thou entered into action,

and dost thou manage state affairs, wherein thou hast cares

enough, and no time to breathe thyself?

The wholesome waters and hot bains
Do not so much allay our pains:
And if our limbs be dull or sick.
Refresh the same and make them quick:
As when a man himself doth see
Advanc'd to honour and high degree,
His glory, care and pain doth ease,
No travail then will him displease;

is Pindarus saith very well: Art thou in some disgrace, and
:ast out of favour with reproach, by reason of some slanderous
:alumniation or envy? Thou hast a gale of forewind at the
Doop, which will soon bring thee directly to the Muses and to
:he academy; that is to say, to follow thy book and study
Dhilosophy: for this was Plato's help when he was in disfavour
vith Denys the Tyrant. And therefore one means this is (of
10 small importance) to work contentment in a man's mind;
lamely, to look back unto the state of famous and renowned
)ersons, and to see whether they (haply) have not suffered the
ike at any time; as for example: Art thou discontented with
hy childless estate, for that thy wife hath brought thee no
hildren ? Do but mark the kings of Rome, how there was not
' ine of them that left the crown unto his son. Is it poverty that
)incheth thee, so as thou art not able to endure it? Tell me
•/hich of all the Boeotians wouldest thou chuse to resemble
! Doner than Epaminondas ? or what Roman wouldest thou be
like unto rather than Fabricius? But say thy wife hath
j'layed false by thee, and made thee wear horns? Didst thou
1 ever read that epigram of King Agis at Delphos ?

'T7pay Kal Tpa<p€pa.s ' j3a<rtXei>s "Ayit /j,' avidT)Kev
Agis, of sea and land a crowned king,
Gave me sometime a sacred ofifering.

* Not rpv(p(pdi, as it is commonly printed, and according to which

F

1 62 Plutarch's Morals

And yet as mighty a prince as he was, you have heard (I am sure)
that Alcibiades lay with his wife Tunaea, and she would not bash
to call the son that she had by him in adultery Alcibiades,
especially amongst her women and waiting-maidens, whispering
and speaking as much softly unto them: But what of all that?
This crooked cross was no bar unto King Agis, but that he
proved the greatest and most renowned personage of all the
Greeks in his time. No more was it any hindrance to Stilpo,
but that he lived all the days of his life most merrily, and no
philosopher like to him in those days, notwithstanding he had a
daughter that played the harlot: and when Metrocles the cynic
reproached him therewith; Is this (quoth he) my fault or hers?
To which when Metrocles answered again: The fault is indeed
hers, but the infortunity and mishap is yours: What now
(replied Stilpo again), how can that be ? Are not (I pray you)
all faults rightly named slips or falls ? Yes, truly, said the other:
And are not falls (quoth Stilpo) mischances or misfortunes?
Metrocles could not deny it: Why then (inferred Stilpo at last),
what are mischances or misfortunes other than infortunities and
mishaps to them whose mischances they are? By this mild
kind of sorites and philosophical reasoning thus from point to
point, he shewed that the reproachful language of this cynical
Metrocles was nothing else but a vain and foolish baying and
barking of a cur-dog.

But on the contrary side, the most part of men are provoked
and troubled not only for the vices of their friends, familiars,
and kinsfolk, but also of their very enemies. For reproachful
taunts, anger, envy, malice and spightful jealousies are the
mischiefs and plagues (I must needs say) of such especially that
have them; howbeit they molest and vex those also that are
witless and without discretion, no otherwise than the hasty
and choleric fits of our neighbours, the peevish and froward
dispositions of our familiar acquaintance, and some shrewd
demeanours of our servants in that they go about: with which
methinks you also troubling and disquieting yourself as much
as with anything else, like unto those physicians of whom
Sophocles thus writeth:

Who bitter choler cleanse and scour
With drugs as bitter and as sour,

do unseemly and not iwis for the credit of your person, thus to

Buda3us hath translated it, and made no sense at all in Latin. But in
Homer the same manner of phrase is used, Iliad, f. ol /*' olaovaiv eirl
f»v<pepT^y re Kal vypi^v, i.e., over land and sea.

Tranquillity and Contentment 163

chafe and fret at their passions and imperfections beyond all
reason, and shew yourself as passionate as they. For surely
the affairs and negotiations wherewith you are put in trust, and
which be managed by your direction, are not executed ordinarily
by the ministry of such persons whose dealings be plain, simple
and direct, as instruments most meet and fit for such a purpose;
but for the most part by crooked, rough and crabbed pieces.
To reform and amend these enormities, I would not have you
think that it is either your work and duty, or an enterprise
otherwise easily performed. But if you making use of these,
being such by nature as the chirurgeons do of tooth-drawing
pincers and those instruments wherewith they do bring the
edges of a wound together, will shew yourself mild, moderate,
and tractable in every respect, according as the present occasion
will give leave ; surely you shall not receive so much discontent-
ment and displeasure at the untoward and unhappy dealings of
others, as joy in the conscience of your own good disposition,
as making this account, that such ministers of yours do but their
kind, like as dogs when they bark: But if you feed and cherish
this pusillanimity and weakness of yours, you shall be sure to
heap up many troubles and follies of other men ere you be
aware, which will be ready to fall and run as into some low
ground and hollow trench, unto that weakness of yours. For
what should I say, that some philosophers reprove the pity and
commiseration which we have for them that are in distress and
misery, acknowledging that it is a good and charitable deed to
help and succour such as be in calamity, but not commending
that condolence and fellow-feeling with our neighbours, as if
we yielded with them unto fortune? And more than so, the
same philosophers will not permit and give us leave, in case we
be subject to some vice and ill disposed, for to be seen and
known for to grieve and sorrow therefore : but rather to correct
and amend what is amiss, without any shew at all of sad cheer
and heaviness; which being so, consider then how little reason
and small cause we have, nay, how absurd it were, that we
should suffer ourselves to be troubled, vexed and angry, in case
all those who commerce and converse with us deal not so well
and kindly as they should?

But above all things, my good friend Paccius, let us see to
this, that our self-love deceive and seduce us not; let us beware
(I say) that we do not so much shew an hatred and detestation
of wickedness and sin in general; as bewray some private and
particular regard of our own, in that we seem so to abhor and

164 Plutarch's Morals

dread the naughtiness of those that have to do with us. For to
be exceeding much moved and beyond all measure affectionate
at some time to such and such affairs ; to covet (I say) and pursue
the same over-hotly, and otherwise than is meet and beseeming;
or contrariwise, to loath, despise, and abhor the same, must
needs breed discontentments, suspicions, and offences in those
persons by whom we seem either to have been prevented and
disappointed of some things, or to have run and fallen too soon
upon other: But he that is used to carry himself cheerfully and
with moderation in his affairs (fall out as they will), and can
frame to their events, he will soon learn to negotiate and con-
verse with any man in all dexterity and gentle behaviour.

Well, then, let us set in hand again to discourse of those
matters which we have intermitted for a while : for like as in a
fever all things that we taste seem at the first bitter and un-
savoury; but when we see others take without any shew and
signification of dislike the same which we spit out, then we
blame no more either meats or drinks, but lay the fault upon
our disease; even so, when we perceive that other men have
entered upon and gone through the same affairs with great
alacrity, and without any pain at all, whereof we complained
and made much ado; let us for shame cease to find fault and
be offended so much at the things. And therefore if at any
time there shall befall unto us some adverse and crooked accident
against our wills, it will be very good for the working of our
contentment in mind, not to pass over but to regard such things
as at other times have happened to our minds and as we could
wish them ; but to confer them together, and by a good medley
of them both to darken and dor the worst with laying the
better to. But now, whereas we are wont when our eyes be
dazzled and offended with beholding that which is too bright
and glittering, to refresh and comfort our sight again with
looking upon pleasant colours of flowers and green grass ; herein
contrariwise we direct our minds and cogitations upon heavy
and dolorous objects, and violently force our thoughts to be
amused upon the remembrance of calamities and adverse for-
tunes, plucking them perforce as it were from the consideration
of better. And here, in this place, methinks I may very fitly
apply that sentence to our present purpose, which was said to a
busy and curious person :

Ah, spiteful mind and most envious heart,
Why others' faults dost thou so quickly spy
With eagle's sight, but in thine own thou art
Stark blind or else dost wink with owlet's eye?

Tranquillity and Contentment 165

Even so, good sir, how is it that you regard and advise so
wistly your own misery and calamity, making it always apparent
and fresh in remembrance, but upon your present prosperity
you set not mind? And like as ventoses, cupping glasses or
boxes draw the most corrupt humours to them out of the
flesh ; even so you gather against yourself the worst things you
have, being no better than the merchant of Chios, who when he
sold to others a great quantity of the best wine, sought up and
down tasting every vessel until he met with that for his own
dinner, which began to sour and was little better than stark
naught. This man had a servant who ran away, and being
demanded what his master had done unto him, for which he
should shew him a pair of heels. Because (quoth he) when he
had plenty of that which was good, he would needs seek for
naught.

And most men verily are of the same nature, who passing
by good and desirable things, which be (as a man would say)
the pleasant and potable liquors that they have, betake them-
selves to those that be harsh, bad and unsavoury. But Aristip-
pus was of another humour; for like a wise man and one that
knew his own good, he was always disposed to make the best of
every occurrence, raising and lifting up himself to that end of
the balance which mounted aloft, and not to that which went
downward. It fortuned one day that he lost a fair manor or
lordship of his own, and when one of his friends above the rest
made most semblance to lament with him, and to be angry with
fortune in his behalf ; Hear you (quoth he), know you not that
yourself have but one little farm in the whole world, and that
I have yet three houses more left, with good lands lying to them?
Yes, marry do I (quoth the other): Why then (quoth Aristippus
again), wherefore do not we rather pity your case, and condole
with you ? For it is mere madness to grieve and sorrow for those
things that are lost and gone, and not to rejoice for that which
is saved. And like as little children, if a man chance to take
from them but one of their gauds, among many other toys that
they play withal, throw away the rest for very curst-heart, and
then fall a-puling, weeping and crying out aright; semblably,
as much folly and childishness it were, if when fortune
thwarteth us in one thing, we be so far out of the way and dis-
quieted therewith, that with our plaints and moans we make
all her other favours unprofitable unto us. But will some one
say. What is it that we have ? Nay, What is it that we have not ?
might he rather say : One man is in honour, another hath a fair

1 66 Plutarch's Morals

and goodly house; one hath a wife to his mind, and another
a trusty friend.

Antipater of Tarsus, the philosopher, when he drew toward
his end and the hour of his death, in recounting and reckoning
up all the good and happy days that ever he saw in his lifetime,
left not out of this roll so much as the bon-voyage that he had
when he sailed from Cilicia to Athens. And yet we must not
forget nor omit those blessings and comforts of this life which
we enjoy in common with many more, but to make some
reckoning and account of them: and namely to joy in this, that
we live ; that we have our health; that we behold the light of the
sun; that we have neither war abroad nor civil sedition and
dissension at home; but that the land yieldeth itself arable and
to be tilled, and the sea navigable to every one that will, without
fear of danger; that it is lawful for us to speak and keep silence
at our pleasure; that we have liberty to negotiate and deal in
affairs, or to rest and be at our repose. And verily the enjoying
of these good things present will breed the greater contentment
in our spirit, if we would but imagine within ourselves that they
were absent; namely, by calling to mind eftsoons what a miss
and desire those persons have of health, who be sick and
diseased. How they wish for peace, who are afflicted with
wars. How acceptable it is either to a stranger or a mean person
and unknown, for to be advanced unto honour, or to be friended
in some famous and puissant city. And contrariwise, what a
great grief it is to forego these things when a man once hath
them. And surely a thing cannot be great or precious when we
have lost it, and the same of no valour and account all the while
we have and enjoy it: for the not being thereof, addeth no price
and worth thereto.

Neither ought we to hold these things right great and excellent,
whiles we stand always in fear and trembling to think that we
shall be deprived and bereft of them, as if they were some
worthy things : and yet all the time that they be sure and safe
in our possession, neglect and little regard them as if they were
common and of no importance. But we ought to make use of
them whiles they be ours, and that with joy, in this respect
especially, that the loss of them, if it shall so fall out, we may
bear more meekly and with greater patience. Howbeit, most
men are of this opinion (as Arcesilaus was wont to say), that
they ought to follow diligently with their eye and cogitation the
poems, pictures and statues of others, and come close unto them
for to behold and peruse exactly each of them ; yea, and consider

Tranquillity and Contentment 167

every part and point therein from one end to the other: whiles
in the meantime they neglect and let alone their own lives and
manners; notwithstanding there be many unpleasant sights to
be spied and observed therein: looking evermore without, and
admiring the advancements, welfare and fortunes of others:
much like as adulterers who have an eye after their neighbours'
wives, but loath and set naught by their own.

And verily this one point also is of great consequence for the
settling of a man's mind in sure repose; namely, to consider
principally himself, hft own estate and condition; or at least-
wise (if he do not so) yet to look back unto those that be his
inferiors and under him ; and not as the most sort do, who love
always to look forward and to compare themselves with their
betters and superiors. As, for example, slaves that are bound
in prison and lie in irons, repute them happy who are abroad at
liberty; such as be abroad and at liberty, think their state
blessed who be manumised and made free; being once affran-
chised, they account themselves to be in very good case if they
were citizens; and being citizens they esteem rich men most
happy; the rich imagine it a gay matter to be lords and princes;
lords and princes have a longing desire to be kings and monarchs ;
cings and monarchs aspire still higher and would be gods ; and
/et they rest not so, unless they may have the power to flash
ightnings and shoot thunderbolts as well as Jupiter. Thus,
vhiles they evermore come short of that which is above them
md covet still after it, they enjoy no pleasure at all of those
hings that they have, nor be thankful therefore.

The treasures great I care not for

Of Gyges king so rich in gold;
Such avarice I do abhor,

Nor money will I touch untold.
I never long'd with gods above,

In their high works for to compare:
Grand seignories I do not love,

Far from mine eyes all such things are.

A Thracian he was that protested thus. But some other,
1 lat were a Chian, a Galatian or a Bithynian (I dare warrant
} ou), not contenting himself with his part of honour, credit and
Sithority in his own country and among his neighbours and
f Uow-citizens, would be ready to weep and expostulate the
r Latter with tears, if he might not also wear the habit and
0 Tiaments of a patrician or senator of Rome. And say it were
g anted and allowed him to be a noble senator, he would not be
q liet until he were a Roman lord praetor: Be he lord praetor, he

1 68 Plutarch's Morals

will aspire to a consulship; and when he is created consul,
whine he will and cry if he were not nominated and pronounced
the former of the twain, but elected in the second place. And
I pray you what is all this? What doeth a man herein but
gather pretended excuses of ingratitude to fortune, in punishing
and chastising himself after this manner? But the man who
is wise and of sound judgment, in case some one or two among
so infinite thousands of us mortal men

Whom sun from heaven so daily dc^h behold,
Who feed on fruits of earth so manifold,

be either more honoured or richer than himself, will not therefore
be cast down straightway, and sit mourning and lamenting for
sorrow; but rather in the way as he goeth, and whensoever he
Cometh abroad, salute and bless with praise and thanksgiving
that good fortune of his and blessed angel that guideth his life,
for that his lot is to live far better, more at heart's ease, and in
greater reputation than many millions of millions of other men.
For true it is, that in the solemn games at Olympia, no champion
may chuse his concurrents with whom he is to wrestle or enter
into combat for a prize: but in this life, our state standeth so,
and our affairs be in that manner composed, that every man
hath means to match, yea, and excel many others, and so to
bear himself aloft, that he be rather envied than envious ; unless
haply he be such an one as will presume to deal with Briareus or
Hercules for the mastery.

Well, when thou shalt behold some great lord or honourable
personage borne aloft in a litter upon men's shoulders, stand not
wondering so much at him, but rather cast thine eyes down a
little lower, and look upon the poor porters that carry him.
Again, when thou shalt repute that great monarch Xerxes a right
happy man, for that he made a bridge of ships over the Straits
of Hellespont ; consider withal those painful slaves, who under
the very whip and for fear of scourging, digged through the
mountain Athos, and made passage that way for an arm of the
sea ; as also those miserable wretches who had their ears cropt
and their noses cut off, for that the foresaid bridge by a mighty
tempest was injointed and broken; and therewith imagine with
thyself what those silly souls might think, and how happy they
would repute thy life and condition in comparison of their own.

Socrates upon a time when one of his familiar friends seemed
to complain and say: What a costly place is this? How dear
are things sold in this city? The wine of Chios will cost a

Tranquillity and Contentment 169

pound; purple is sold for three, and a pint of honey is held at
five drachms : took him by the hand and led him to the meal-
hall. Lo (quoth he), you may buy here half a sextare of good
meal for an halfpenny. The market (God be thanked) is cheap :
from thence he brought him into an oil-cellar, and where they
sold olives: Here you shall have (quoth he) a measure called
choenix for two brazen dodkins (a good market, believe me).
He took him then with him to the brokers' shops that sold
clothes, where a man might buy a suit of apparel for ten drachms.
You see (quoth he) that the pennyworths are reasonable, and
things be bought and sold good cheap throughout the city;
even so we, when we shall hear other men say; Our state is
but mean, we are exceeding bare, and our condition is passing
base : For why ? We cannot come to be consuls, we shall never
be rulers and governors of provinces, nor rise to the highest
places of authority. We may very well answer in this wise;
Nay marry, but our case is right good; we live gallantly, and
lead a blessed and happy life: we beg not; we go not from door
to door to crave folks' alms; we are no porters; we bear no
burdens; neither like parasites and smell- feasts do we get our
bread by flattery. But forasmuch as we are for the most part
grown to this folly, that we are accustomed to live rather
according to others than ourselves, and our nature is so far
corrupted with a kind of jealous affectation and envy, that it
joyeth not so much in her own proper goods, as grieveth at the
welfare of another, I would advise you not only to regard those
things that be resplendent, glorious and renowned in those whom
you admire and esteem so happy; but also to set open and lift
up the veil a little, and to draw (as it were) that glittering curtain
of outward shew, appearance and opinion that men have of
them which covereth all, and so to look in. Certes, you shall find
that they have within them many matters of trouble, many
grievances and discontentments.

That noble Pittacus, so famous for his valour and fortitude,
and as much renowned also for wisdom and justice, feasted upon
a time certain of his friends that were strangers: and his wife
coming in at midst of the dinner, being angry at somewhat else,
overthrew the table, and there lay all under foot. Now when
his guests and friends were wondrously dismayed and abashed
lereat, Pittacus made no more ado at the matter, but turning
into them: There is not one of us all (quoth he) but he hath
lis cross, and one thing or other to exercise his patience: and
"or mine own part, this is the only thing that checketh my

170 Plutarch's Morals

felicity: for were it not for this shrew my wife, I were the
happiest man in the world : So that of me may these verses be
well verified :

This man who while he is in street

Or public place is happy thought,
No sooner sets in house his feet

But woe is him: and not for nought.
His wife him rules, and that's a spight,
She chides, she fights, from morn to night.

Well, my masters, you have many occasions (I am sure) that
vex you: as for myself I grieve at nothing. Many such secret
sores there be that put them to anguish and pain who are rich
and in high authority, yea, and trouble kings and princes them-
selves; howsoever the common people see no such matter; and
why? their pomp and outward glory covereth and hideth all.
For when we read thus in Homer:

O happy king, Sir Agamemnon hight.
The son of Atreus, that worthy knight
Bom in good hour, and lull'd in fortune's lap.
Most puissant, rich, and thrall to no mishap :

this is a rehearsal surely of an outward beatitude only, in regard
of his arms, horses and men of war about him: for the voices
which are breathed out and uttered of his passions, do falsify
that opinion of him, and bear witness of the contrary: as may
appear by this testimony of himself in Homer:

Great Jupiter, god Saturn's son,
Hath plung'd me deep in woe begone,

Euripides also to the like effect:

Your state, old sir, I happy deem.

And his no less I do admire
Who led his life, unknown, unseen.

From danger far, from vain desire.

By these and such-like meditations, a man may by little and
little spend and diminish that quarrelsome and complaining dis-
contentment of the mind against fortune, in debasing and casting
down his own condition with the wonderful admiration of his
neighbour's state. But there is nothing that doth so much hurt
unto our tranquillity of mind as this, when our affection and
will to a thing is disproportion ed unto our might and power; as
if we set up greater sails than our vessel will bear, building our
hopes and desires as castles in the air without a sound foundation,
and promising ourselves more than reason is; for afterwards

Tranquillity and Contentment 171

when by proof we see that we cannot reach thereto, and find
that the success is not answerable to our conceit, we grumble
by and by against fortune, and we blame our destiny; whereas
we should accuse our own folly and rashness. For neither he
that would seem to shoot an arrow out of a plough, or ride upon
an ox back to hunt the hare, can say that he is unlucky; nor
he that goeth about to catch the hart and hind with fisher's
drag-nets, or with gins, snares and traps, may justly find fault
with his fortune, and give out that some wicked angel doth
cross him, or malignant spirit haunt him, if he fail and miss of his
purpose: but surely such are to condemn their own foolishness
and inconsiderate temerity, in attempting things impossible.

And what might be the cause of such errors and gross over-
sight? surely our fond and blind self-love. This is it that
causeth men to affect ever to be foremost; this moveth them
to strive and contend for the highest place; this maketh them
opinionative in everything, aiming and reaching at all things
unsatiably, and never rest contented. For it sufficeth them not
to be both rich and learned ; eloquent withal and mighty ; good
fellows at the table and pleasant companions; minions and
favourites of kings and princes; rulers of cities and governors
of provinces; unless they may be masters also of the swiftest
and hottest hounds for running ; the principal horses for service
and stomach; quails and cocks of the best game for fight; If
they fail in any of these, they be cast down, and their hearts are
done. Denys, the elder of that name, not being contented and
satisfied in mind that he was the most mighty and puissant
tyrant in his time; but because he was not a better poet than
Philoxenus; nor able to discourse and dispute so learnedly as
Plato; in great choler and indignation he cast the one into a
dungeon within the stone quarries, where malefactors, felons
md slaves were put to punishment ; and confined the other as a
caitiff, and sent him away into the isle JEgine. Alexander the
jreat was not of that disposition, who when Brison, the famous
iinner, in the race contended with him for the best game in
ootmanship, and for the nonce, to please the king, seemed to
aint and lag behind, and so to yield the honour of the course
mto him ; being advertised thereof, was mightily offended and
lispleased with him for it. Very wisely, therefore, and aptly to
;his purpose the poet Homer, when he had given this commenda-
ion of Achilles :

Like unto him there is not one in field

Of all the Greeks that serve with spear and shield.

172 Plutarch's Morals

he inferred presently upon it:

In feats of arms ; but for to speak and plead
Others there be who can him teach and lead.

Megabyzus the Persian, a great lord, went up one day into
the shop of Apelles, where he used to paint; and when he was
about to speak (I wot not what) as touching painting-craft,
Apelles, not enduring to hear him talk so foolishly, stayed him
and stopped his mouth, saying prettily thus unto him: So long,
sir, as you held your tongue, you were taken to be some great
man, by reason of your chains, corquans, and brooches of gold ;
your purple robes also, which together with your silence com-
mended your person: but now the very prentice boys here, who
grind ochre and such-like colours, are ready to laugh at you,
hearing you talk so foolishly, you know not what. And yet
some there be who think that the Stoics do but mock and jest
when they hear them hold this opinion: That the wise man
(such as they imagine to themselves) is not only prudent, just
and valiant, but ought also to be called an orator, a captain,
and a poet, a rich and mighty man, yea and a very king; whiles
they themselves will needs be invested in these titles, and if
they be not, then they are displeased and miscontent by and by;
what reason they have so to be let them answer. Sure I am
that among the gods themselves, some have power one way, and
some another; and thereupon took their sundry denominations
accordingly, and rest contented therewith: as for example, one
is sumamed Enyalius, i.e., the god of war; another Mantous,
i.e., the president of prophecies; and a third Cerdous, which is
as much to say, as the patron of those that gain by traffic.
And hereupon it is that Jupiter in Homer, forbidding Venus to
meddle in warlike and martial affairs, as nothing pertinent unto
her, sendeth her to weddings and bride-chambers, and bids her
attend them.

Moreover, some qualities and things there be that we seem
to affect and wish; the which are in nature contrary, and will
not concur and sort well together: as for example, the profession
of eloquence and the study of arts mathematical require rest
and quietness, neither have the students therein need to be
employed in any affairs. Contrariwise, policy and managing
of the state and weal public, the favours of princes and poten-
tates, are not compassed without much ado ; neither can a man
be idle at any time, who either is employed in the service of his
country, or attendant in the court. Much feeding upon flesh

Tranquillity and Contentment 173

and liberal drinking of wine, maketh (I must needs say) the body
able and strong, but the mind feeble and weak. Likewise, the
continual and excessive care both in getting and keeping goods,
may well augment riches and increase our substance : but surely
it is the contempt and despisement of worldly wealth that is a
great help and means to learning and philosophy. And there-
fore we may well conclude that every man is not fit for every-
thing: but herein each one must be ruled by the sage sentence
of Pythius Apollo, and first learn. To know himself; then mark
and observe to what one thing he is most framed and inclined ;
and thereto both apply and employ his wits, and not to offer
violence to nature, and draw her perforce, as it were, against
the hair, to this or that course of life which she liketh not.

The horse serves best in chariot at the thill.
The ox at plough, the ground to ear and till;
Ships under sail the dolphins when they spy.
Most swiftly then do swim their sides fast by:
Who would in wood the wild boar chase and slay,
Must bring with him the hardy hound away.

Now if there be one that shall be angry with himself and dis-
pleased that he is not at once both a savage lion of the forest,
bold and venturous of his own strength, and withal a dainty
fine puppy of Malta; cherished and fostered in the lap and bosom
Df some delicate dame and rich widow; commend me to him
for a senseless fool of all fools, and to say a sooth, I hold him
ilso as very an ass and doltish fop, who will needs be such an
)ne as Empedocles, Plato and Democritus; namely, to write of
;he world, of the nature and true essence of all things therein,
md withal to keep a rich old trot and sleep with her every night,
IS Euphorion did; or else like unto those who kept company
vith Alexander the Great in drinking and gaming (as one
Viedius did), and yet think it a great abuse and indignity (for-
;ooth) if he may not be as much admired for his wealth as

smenias, and esteemed no less for his virtue than Epaminondas.
A^e see that the runners in a race be not discontented at all if

hey wear not the garlands and coronets of wrestlers, but rest

)leased with their own rewards, and therein delight and rejoice.

t is an old said saw, and a common proverb : Sparta is thy lot
: .nd province, look well to it, and adorn the same. For it is a
; aying also of wise Solon:

And yet we will not change our boon

With them, for all their wealth and gold: >

Goods pass from man to man full soon.

Ours virtue is, a sure freehold.

174 Plutarch's Morals

Strato, the natural philosopher, when he heard that Menede-
mus, his concurrent, had many more scholars by far than he:
What marvel is that (quoth he) if there be more that desire to
be washed and bathed than are willing to be anointed and
rubbed? Aristotle, writing to Antipater: It is not meet (quoth
he) that Alexander alone should think highly of himself, in that
he is able to command so many men; but they also have good
'cause to be as well conceited of themselves, who have the grace
to believe of the gods as they ought. For surely they that
thus can make the best use of their own estate, shall never be
vexed, nor at their neighbour's welfare pine away for very envy.
Which of us now doth require or think it fit that the vine-tree
should bear figs, or the olive grapes? and yet we ourselves, if
we may not have all at once, to wit, the superiority and pre-
eminence among rich men, among eloquent orators and learned
clerks, both at home and abroad, in the schools among philo-
sophers, in the field among warriors ; as well among flattering
claw-backs as plain-spoken and tell-truth friends: to conclude
unless we may go before all-pinching penny- fathers in frugality;
yea, and surpass all spendthrifts in riot and prodigality; we
are out of our little wits; we accuse ourselves daily like syco-
phants; we are unthankful; we repine and grumble as if we
lived in penury and want. Over and besides, do we not see
that nature herself doth teach us sufficiently in this point?
For like as she hath provided for sundry kinds of brute and wild
beasts, divers sorts of food : for all feed not upon flesh, all peck
not upon seeds and grains of plants, neither do all live upon
roots which they work from under the ground ; even so she hath
bestowed upon mankind many means to get their living, while
some live by grazing and feeding of cattle, others by tillage,
some be fowlers, others fishers: and therefore ought every man
to chuse that course of life which sorteth best with his own
nature, and wholly to apply and set his mind thereto; leaving
unto others that which pertaineth to them, and not to reprove
and convince Hesiodus when he thus speaketh, although not to
the full and sufficiently to the point:

The potter to potter doth bear envy.

One carpenter to another hath a spightful eye.

For jealous we are not only of those who exercise the same art
and follow that course of life which we do, but the rich also do
envy the learned and eloquent; noble men the rich; advocates
and lawyers, captious and litigious sophisters; yea, and (that

Tranquillity and Contentment 175

which more is) gentlemen free-born, and descended from noble
and ancient houses, envy comedians when they have acted well
and with a good grace upon the stage in great theatres ; dancers
also and jesters in the court, whom they see to be in favour and
credit with kings and princes; and whiles they do admire these,
and think them happy for their good speed and success in com-
parison of their own doings, they fret and grieve, and out of
measure torment themselves.

Now, that every one of us hath within himself treasures laid
up of contentment and discontentment, and certain tunes of
good things and evil; not bestowed, as Homer said, upon the
door-sill and entry of Jupiter's house; but placed in eaclx of our
own minds, the divers passions whereunto we are subject do
sufficiently prove and shew. For such as are foolish and un-
advised, do neglect and let go the very good things that presently
they have, and never care to enjoy them, so intentive and
earnestly bent are their minds and spirits always to that which
is coming, and future expectation: whereas wise men, on the
contrary side, call to their fresh remembrance those things that
are past, so as they seem to enjoy the same as if they were
present, yea and to make that which is no more to be as beneficial
unto them as if they were ready and at hand. For surely that
which is present, yielding itself to be touched by us but the least
moment of time that is, and immediately passing our senses,
seemeth unto fools to be none of ours, nor any more to concern
us. But like as the roper which is painted in the temple of
Pluto, or description of hell, suffereth an ass behind him to gnaw
and eat a rope as fast as he twisteth it off the spart-broom;
even so the unthankful and senseless oblivion of many ready to
catch and devour all good things as they pass by, yea, and to
dissipate and cause to vanish away every honest and notable
action, all virtuous deeds, duties, delectable recreations and
pleasant pastimes, all good fellowship and mutual society, and
all amiable conversation one with another, will not permit that
the life be one and the same, linked (as it were) and chained by
the copulation of things past and present; but dividing yester-
day from to-day, and this day from the morrow, as if they were
sundry parts of our life, bringeth in such a forgetfulness, as if
things once past had never been.

As for those verily who in their disputations and philosophical
discourses admit no augmentation of bodies', affirming that
every substance continually fadeth and vanisheth, would make
us believe in word, that each one of us every hour altereth from

176

Plutarch's Morals

himself, and no man is the same to-day that he was yesterday:
but these for fault of memory not able to retain and keep those
things that are done and past, no, nor to apprehend and eftsoons
call them again to mind, but suffer everything to pass away and
run as it were through a sieve, do not in word but in deed and
effect make themselves void and empty every day more than
other, depending only upon the morrow, as if those things which
were done the year past, of late, and yesterday, nothing apper-
tained unto them, nor ever were at all.

This is, therefore, one thing that hindereth and troubleth that
equanimity and repose of spirit which we seek for: and yet
there is another that doth it more; and that is this; Like as
flies creeping upon the smooth places of glasses or mirrors,
cannot hold their feet but must needs fall down, but contrari-
wise they take hold where they meet with any roughness, and
stick fast to rugged flaws that they can find ; even so these men,
gliding and glancing over all delectable and pleasant occurrences,
take hold of any adverse and heavy calamities, those they
cleave unto and remember very well; or rather as (by report)
there is about the city Olynthus a certain place, into which if
any flies called beetles enter in once, they cannot get forth
again, but after they have kept a-tuming about, and fetching
compasses round to no purpose a long time, they die in the end,
whereupon it took the name of Canfharolethron ; semblably,
men after they fall to the reckoning up and commemoration of
their harms and calamities past, are not willing to retire back,
nor to breathe themselves and give over multiplying thereupon
still. And yet contrariwise, they ought to do after the manner
of painters, who when they paint a table do lay upon the ground,
or by a course of dead and duskish colours, such as be fresh,
gay and gallant, for to palliate and in some sort to hide the
unpleasantness of the other, they ought (I say) to smother and
keep down the heaviness of the heart occasioned by some cross
mishaps, with those that have fallen out of their mind, for to
obliterate and wipe them out of their mind quite, and to be
freed clean from them it is not possible : and surely the harmony
of this world is reciprocal and variable, compounded (as it were)
of contraries, like as we do see in an harp or bow; neither is
any earthly thing under the cope of heaven pure, simple and
sincere without mixture. But as music doth consist of base and
treble sounds; and grammar of letters, which be partly vocal
and partly mute, to wit, vowels and consonants, and he is not
to be counted a grammarian and musician who is offended and

Tranquillity and Contentment 177

displeased with either of those contrary elements of the art,
but he that affecteth the one as well as the other, and knoweth
how to use and mix both together with skill for to serve his
purpose; even so, considering that in the occurrences of man's
life there be so many contrarieties, and one weigheth against
another in manner of counterpoise ; for (according to Euripides) :

It cannot stand with our affairs,

That good from bad should parted be:

A medley then of mixed pairs

Doth well, and serves in each degree.

It is not meet that we should let our hearts fall and be dis-
couraged with the one sort whensoever it happeneth, but we
ought, according to the rules of harmony in music, to stop the
point always of the worst with strokes of better, and by over-
casting misfortunes (as it were) with a veil and curtain of good
haps, or by setting one to the other, to make a good composition
and a pleasant accord in our life, fitting and sorting our own
turns. For it is not as Menander said :

Each man so soon as he is born.

One spirit good or angel hath.
Which him assists both even and mom.

And guides his steps in every path ;

but rather according to Empedocles: No sooner are we come
into the world, but each one of us hath two angels, called
icBmons : two destinies (I say) are allotted unto us, for to take
;;he charge and government of our life, unto which he attributeth
livers and sundry names:

Here Clithonie was, a downward look that hath,
Heliope eke, who tumeth to the sun.
And Deris, she that loves in blood to bath.
Harmony smiles ever and anon,
Calisto fair and ^Eschre foul among,
Thoosa swift, Dinaea stout and strong,
Nemertes, who is lovely white and pure.
But Asaph ie with fruit black and obscure.

Insomuch as our nativity receiving the seeds of each of all

hese passions blended and confused together, and by reason

•1 hereof the course of our life not being uniform, but full of dis-

( rdered and unequal dispositions, a man of good and sound

iidgment ought to wish and desire at God's hand the better,

1 D expect and look for the worse, and to make an use of them

1 oth, namely, by abridging and cutting off that which is exces-

' { ■ ve and too much : For not he only (as Epicurus was wont to

" i ly) shall come with most delight and pleasure to see the

178 Plutarch's Morals

morrow-sun, who made least account thereof on the even; but
riches also, glory, authority and rule doth most rejoice their
hearts who least feared the contrary: for the vehement and
ardent desire that a man hath to any of these things, doth
imprint likewise an exceeding fear of foregoing and losing the
same, and thereby maketh the delight of enjoying them to be
feeble and nothing firm and constant; even as the blaze and
flame of the fire which is blown and driven to and fro with the
wind. But the man who is so much assisted with reason, that
he is able without fear and trembling to say unto fortune :

or thus :

7]dd /jLol iv Tt, <f>ipri^, dXiyov 5' fixos ■Qv dvoXelirjii.
Welcome to me, if good thou bringest ought,
And if thou fail, I will take little thought;

Well mayst thou take from me some joy of mind,
But little grief thou shalt me leave behind:

hath this benefit by his confidence and resolution: that as he
taketh most joy of his good fortunes when they are present, so
he never feareth the loss of them, as if it were a calamity insup-
portable. And herein we may as well imitate as admire the
disposition and affection of Anaxagoras, who when he heard the
news of his son's death, I know full well (quoth he) when I begot
him that die he must: and after his example, whensoever any
infortunity happeneth, to be ready with these and such-like
speeches : I know that riches were not permanent, but transitory
and for a day: I never thought other, but that they who con-
ferred these dignities upon me both might and could deprive
me of them: I wist that I had a good wife and virtuous dame,
but withal a woman and no more : I was not ignorant that my
friend was a man, (that is to say) a living creature by nature
mutable, as Plato used to say.

And verily, such preparations and dispositions of our affections
as these, if peradventure there shall befall unto us anything
against our intent and mind, but not contrary to our expecta-
tion, as they will never admit such passionate words as these
(I never thought it would have fallen out so, I was in great hope
of other matters, and little looked I for this), so they shall be
able to rid us of all sudden pantings and leapings of the heart,
of unquiet and disorderly beating of the pulses, and soon stay
and settle the furious and troublesome motions of impatience.
Cameades was wont in time of greatest prosperity to put men
in mind of a change ; for that the thing which happeneth con-

Tranquillity and Contentment 179

trary to our hope and expectation is that which altogether and
wholly doth breed sorrow and grief.

The kingdom of the Macedonians was not an handful to the
Roman empire and dominion; and yet King Perseus, when he
had lost Macedonia, did not only himself lament his own
fortune most piteously, but in the eyes also of the whole world
he was reputed a most unfortunate and miserable man. But
behold Paulus ^melius, whose hap it was to vanquish the said
Perseus, when he departed out of that province, and made over
nto the hands of another his whole army, with so great com-
nand both of land and sea, was crowned with a chaplet of
lowers, and so did sacrifice unto the gods with joy and thanks-
giving in the judgment of all men, worthily extolled and reputed
;is happy. For why? when he received first that high com-
;nission and mighty power withal, he knew full well that he was
o give it over and resign it up when his time was expired;
• vhereas Perseus, on the contrary side, lost that which he never
] nade account to lose. Certes, even the poet Homer hath given
1 IS very well to understand how forcible that is which happeneth
I )esides hope and unlooked for, when he bringeth in Ulysses upon
Ills return, weeping for the death of his dog; but when he sate
by his own wife, who shed tears plentifully, wept not at all;
]or that he had long before at his leisure against this coming
home of his, prevented and brought into subjection (as it were),
by the rule of reason, that passion which otherwise he knew
^/ell enough would have broken out; whereas, looking for
1 othing less than the death of his dog, he fell suddenly into it,
i s having had no time before to repress the same. In sum, of
{ 11 those accidents which light upon us contrary to our will,
some grieve and vex us by the course and instinct of nature;
c thers (and those be the greater part) we are wont to be
( ffended and discontented with, upon a corrupt opinion and
f )olish custom that we have taken : and therefore we should do
\ ery well, against such temptations as these, to be ready with
t lat sentence of Menander:

No harm nor loss thou dost sustain;
But that thou list so for to fain.

/nd how (quoth he) can it concern thee?

For if no flesh without it wound,
Nor soul within, then all is sound.

J s for example, the base parentage and birth of thy father ; the
a iultery of thy wife; the loss or repulse of any honour, dignity

i8o Plutarch's Morals

or pre-eminence: for what should let, notwithstanding all these
crosses, but that thy body and mind both may be in right good
plight and excellent estate ? And against those accidents which
seem naturally to grieve and trouble us, to wit, maladies, pains
and travails ; death of dear friends and toward children, we may
oppose another saying of Euripides the poet:

Alas, alas, and well-a-day:
But why alas, and well away?
Nought else to us hath yet been dealt.
But that which daily men have felt.

For no remonstrance nor reason is so effectual to restrain and
stay this passionate and sensual part of our mind, when it is
ready to slip and be carried headlong away with our affections,
as that which calleth to remembrance the common and natural
necessity; by means whereof a man in regard of his body, being
mixed and compounded, doth expose and offer this handle (as
it were) and vantage whereby fortune is to take hold when she
wrestleth against him; for otherwise, in the greatest and most
principal things, he abideth fast and sure. King Demetrius
having forced and won the city Megara, demanded of Stilpo, the
wise philosopher, whether he had lost any goods in the sackage
and pillage thereof? Sir (quoth he), I saw not so much as one
man carrying anything of mine away; semblably, when fortune
hath made what spoil she can, and taken from us all other things,
yet somewhat there remaineth still within ourselves,

Which Greeks, do what they can or may.
Shall neither drive nor bear away.

In which regard we ought altogether so to depress, debase
and throw down our human nature, as if it had nothing firm,
stable and permanent, nothing above the reach and power of
fortune: but contrariwise, knowing that it is the least and
worst part of man, and the same frail, brittle, and subject to
death, which maketh us to lie open unto fortune and her
assaults; whereas in respect of the better part we are masters
over her, and have her at command, when there being seated
and founded most surely the best and greatest things that we
have, to wit, sound and honest opinions, arts and sciences, good
discourses tending to virtue, which be all of a substance incor-
ruptible, and whereof we cannot be robbed : we (I say) knowing
thus much, ought in the confidence of ourselves to carry a mind
invincible and secure against whatsoever shall happen, and be
able to say that to the face of fortune which Socrates, address-
ing his speech indeed covertly to the judges, seemed to speak

Tranquillity and Contentment i8i

against his two accusers, Anytus and Melitus: Well may
,\nytus and Melitus bring me to my death, but hurt or harm me
they shall never be able.

And even so fortune hath power to bring a disease or sickness
ipon a man, his goods she can take away, raise she may a
ilander of him to tyrant, prince or people, and bring him out
of grace and favour; but him that is virtuous, honest, vahant
and magnanimous, she cannot make wicked, dishonest, base-
minded, malicious and envious: and in one word, she hath not
])ower to take from him a good habitude, settled upon wisdom
and discretion, which wheresoever it is always present, doth
laore good unto a man for to guide him how to live, than the
])ilot at sea for to direct a ship in her course; for surely the
] )ilot, be he never so skilful, knoweth not how to still the rough
£ nd surging billows when he would, he cannot allay the violence
( f a tempest, or blustering wind, neither put into a safe harbour
£ nd haven, or gain a commodious bay to anchor in at all times
£ nd in every coast, would he never so fain, nor resolutely without
f jar and trembling when he is in a tempest, abide the danger
and undergo all; thus far forth only his art serveth, so long as
l"e is in no despair but that his skill may take place:

To strike mainsail, and down the lee
To let ship hull, until he see
The foot of mast no more above
The sea: while he doth not remove,
But with one hand in other fast
Quaketh and panteth all aghast.

But the disposition and staid mind of a prudent man, over
a id besides that it bringeth the body into a quiet and calm
e tate, by dissipating and dispatching for the most part the
o ;casions and preparatives of diseases, and that by continent
li e, sober diet, moderate exercises, and travails in measure; if
h iply there chance some little beginning or indisposition to a
p ission, upon which the mind is ready to run itself, as a ship,
u )on some blind rock under the water, it can quickly turn about
h s nimble and light cross-sail yard, as Asclepiades was wont to
Si y, and so avoid the danger.

But say there come upon us some great and extraordinary
ai cident, such as neither we looked for, nor be able by all the
P' 'wer we have, either to overcome or endure; the haven is near
ai hand, we may swim safely thither out of the body (as it
w sre), out of a vessel that leaketh and taketh water, and will
n( longer hold a passenger: as for foolish folk, it is the fear of

1 82 30'.! Plutarch's Morals

death, and not the love of life, that causeth them to cling and
stick so close to the body, hanging and clasping thereunto no
otherwise than Ulysses to the wild fig-tree, when he feared with
great horror the gulf Charybdis roaring under him:

Whereas the winds would not permit to stay.
Nor suffer him to row or sail away:

displeased infinitely in the one, and dreading fearfully the other.
But he that in some measure (be it never so little) knoweth the
nature of the soul, and casteth this with himself: That by death
there is a passage out of this life, either to a better state, or at
leastwise not to a worse: certes, he is furnished with no mean
wayfaring provision to bring him to the security of mind in
this life, I mean the fearless contempt of death : for he that may
(so long as virtue and the better part of the soul (which indeed
is proper unto man) is predominant) live pleasantly ; and when
the contrary passions, which are enemies to nature, do prevail,
depart resolutely and without fear, saying thus unto himself:

God will me suffer to be gone
When that I will myself, anon.

What can we imagine to happen unto a man of this resolution,
that should encumber, trouble or terrify him ? for whosoever he
was that said: I have prevented thee (0 Fortune), I have
stopped up all thy avenues, I have intercepted and choked all
the ways of access and entry; surely he fortified himself, not
with bars and barricades, not with locks and keys, nor yet with
mures and walls, but with philosophical and sage lessons, with
sententious saws, and with discourses of reason, whereof all men
that are willing be capable. Neither ought a man to discredit
the truth of these and such-like things which are committed in
writing, and give no behef unto them, but rather to admire, and
with an affectionate ravishment of spirit embrace and imitate
them; yea, and withal to make a trial and experiment of him-
self; first in smaller matters, proceeding afterwards to greater,
until he reach unto the highest, and in no wise to shake off such
meditations, nor to shift off and seek to avoid the exercise of
the mind in this kind, and in so doing, he shall haply find no
such difficulty as he thinketh. For as the effeminate delicacy
and niceness of our mind, amused always and loving to be
occupied in the most easy objects, and retiring eftsoons from
the cogitation of those things that fall out cross, unto such as
tend unto greatest pleasure, causeth it to be soft and tender,
and imprinteth a certain daintiness not able to abide any

Tranquillity and Contentment 183

exercise ; so if the same mind would by custom learn and exercise
itself in apprehending the imagination of a malady, of pain,
travel, and of banishment, and enforce itself by reason to
withstand and strive against each of these accidents, it will be
found and seen by experience, that such things which through
an erroneous opinion were thought painful, grievous, hard and
terrible, are for the most part but vain indeed, deceitful and
contemptible : like as reason will shew the same if a man would
consider them each one in particular. Howbeit, the most part
mightily fear and have in horror that verse of Menander:

No man alive can safely say.
This case shall never me assay,

as not knowing how material it is to the exempting and freeing
of a man from all grief and sorrow, to meditate beforehand,
and to be able to look open-eyed full against fortune, and not
to make those apprehensions and imaginations in himself soft and
effeminate, as if he were fostered and nourished in the shadow,
under many foohsh hopes which ever yield to the contrary, and
be not able to resist so much as any one.

But to come again unto Menander, we have to answer unto
him in this manner: True it is indeed, there is no man living
able to say : This or this shall never happen unto me ; howbeit,
thus much may a man that is alive say and affirm : So long as I
live I will not do this, to wit, I will not lie; I will never be a
cozener, nor circumvent any man; I will not defraud any one
of his own; neither will I forelay and surprise any man by a
wile. This lieth in our power to promise and perform, and this
is no small matter, but a great means to procure tranquillity and
contentment of mind. Whereas contrariwise, the remorse of
conscience whenas a man is privy to himself, and must needs
confess and say : These and these wicked parts I have committed,
festereth in the soul like an ulcer and sore in the flesh, and
leaveth behind it repentance in the soul, which fretteth, galleth,
3paweth, and setteth it a-bleeding fresh continually. For,
A^hereas all other sorrows, griefs, and anguishes, reason doth
take away; repentance only it doth breed and engender, which
together with shame biteth and punisheth itself; for like as
:hey who quiver and shake in the fevers called epioU ; or con-
:rariwise, bum by occasion of other agues, are more afflicted
md more at ease than those who suffer the same accidents by
ixterior causes, to wit, winter's cold or summer's heat; even so
ill mischances and casual calamities bring with them lighter

i84

Plutarch's Morals

dolours and pains as coming from without. But when a man
is forced thus to confess:

Myself I may well thank for this,
None else for it blame worthy is:

which is an ordinary speech of them who lamentably bewail
their sins from the bottom of their hearts, it causeth grief and
sorrow to be so much more heavy, and it is joined with shame
and infamy : whereupon it cometh to pass that neither house
richly and finely furnished, nor heaps of gold and silver, no
parentage or nobility of birth, no dignity of estate and authority,
how high soever, no grace in speech, no force and power of
eloquence, can yield unto a man's life such a calm (as it were)
and peaceable tranquillity, as a soul and conscience clear from
wicked deeds, sinful cogitations and lewd designs, which having
the source and fountain of life (I mean the inward disposition
of the heart) not troubled and polluted, but clear and cleansed;
from whence all good and laudable actions do flow and proceed,
and the same do give a lively, cheerful, and effectual operation,
even by some divine instinct and heavenly inspiration, together
with a bold courage and haughty mind, and withal yield the
remembrance of a virtuous and well led life, more sweet,
pleasant, firm and permanent than is that hope whereof
Pindarus writeth, the nurse and fostress of old age : for we must
not think that (as Cameades was wont to say) the censers ^ or
perfuming pans wherein sweet incense is burned, retain and
render the pleasant odour a long time after they be empty, and
that the virtuous deeds of a wise and honest man should not
always leave behind them in the soul an amiable, delightful and
fresh remembrance thereof; by means whereof, that inward
joy being watered, is ever green, buddeth and flourisheth still,
despising the shameful error of those who with their plaints,
moans and wailings defame this life of ours, saying: It is a
very hell and place of torments or else a region of confined and
exiled souls, into which they were sent away and banished
forth of heaven.

And here I cannot choose but highly commend that memorable
saying of Diogenes, who seeing once a certain stranger at
Lacedaemon dressing and trimming himself very curiously
against a festival and high day: What means all this (quoth he),
my good friend ? to a good and honest man is not every day in

* Or rosemary banks after they be cut down and left void, as some
expovmd.

Tranquillity and Contentment 185

he year a feast and holy day? yes verily, and if we be wise we
should think all days double feasts and most solemn gaudy-days:
iOT surely this world is a right sacred and holy temple, yea, and
most divine, beseeming the majesty of God, into which man is
inducted and admitted at his nativity, not to gaze and look at
etatues and images cut and made by man's hand, and such as
have no motion of their own, but to behold those works and
( reatures which that divine spirit and almighty power in won-
( erf ul wisdom and providence hath made and shewed unto us
sensible; and yet (as Plato saith) representing and resembling
iitelligible powers, from whence proceed the beginnings of life
£ nd moving, namely, the sun, the moon, the stars ; what should
1 speak of the rivers which continually send out fresh water
still; and the earth which bringeth forth nourishment for all
1 ving creatures, and yieldeth nutriment likewise to every plant?

Now if our life be the imitation of so sacred mysteries, and
(is it were) a profession and entrance into so holy a religion
of all others most perfect, we must needs esteem it to be full
of contentment and continual joy: neither ought we (as the
ommon multitude doth) attend and wait for the feasts of
Saturn, Bacchus, or Minerva, and such other high days wherein
t ley may solace themselves, make merry and laugh, buying
t leir mirth and joy for money, giving unto players, jesters,
d incers, and such-like their hire and reward for to make them
\i ugh. In which feasts and solemnities we use to sit with great
c )ntentment of mind, arrayed decently according to our degree
a id calling (for no man useth to mourn and lament when he is
p-ofessed in the mysteries of Ceres, and received into that
c mfratemity; no man sorroweth when he doth behold the
g )odly sights of the Pythian games ; no man hungereth or
ii steth during the Saturnals): what an indignity and shame is
it then that in those feasts which God himself hath instituted,
a id wherein (as a man would say) he leadeth the dance, or is
p 'rsonally himself to give institution and induction, men should
C( ntaminate, pollute and profane as they do, dishonouring their
li e for the most part, with weeping, wailing, sighing and groan-
ir g, or at the leastwise in deep thoughts and pensive cares.

But the greatest shame of all other is this; that we take
p easure to hear the organs and instruments of music sound
phasantly; we delight to hear birds singing sweetly; we behold
w th right goodwill beasts playing, sporting, dancing and skip-
pi ig featly; and contrariwise, we are offended when they howl,
re ir, snarl, and gnash their teeth, as also when they shew a

1 86 Plutarch's Morals

fierce, stem and hideous look; and all this while seeing our own
lives heavy, sad, travailed and oppressed with most unpleasant
passions, most intricate and inexplicable affairs, and over-
whelmed with infinite and endless cares ; yet we will not afford
ourselves some rest and breathing time; nay (that which more
is), we will not admit the speech and remonstrances of our friends
and familiars, whom if we would give ear unto, we might without
fault-finding receive the present, remember with joy and thanks-
giving that which is past, and without distrust, suspicion and
fear, expect with joyful and lightsome hope that which is to
come.

OF UNSEEMLY AND NAUGHTY
BASHFULNESS

THE SUMMARY

[Although it be needless to stand curiously upon the concatenation
uid coherence of these matters handled by Plutarch, how they be knit
ind linked together, considering that he penned these discourses
jf his at sundry times ; and both they who have reduced them into
>ne volume, and those also who have translated them out of Greek
nto other languages, have not all followed one order: yet I think
/erily that this present treatise, as concerning Naughty Bashfulness,
s fitly joined next to the former, as touching the repose and tran-
'luUlity of the spirit. For one of the greatest shaking cracks that
' )iur soul can receive in her tranquillity is when she secretly and by
: tealth may be lifted from her seat for to drive a man to those things
vhich may trouble him immediately, and much more afterwards.
'. 'low this evil bashfulness hath this vicious and dangerous quality,
■ o know how to seduce and draw us by fair semblant, and never-
• heless to trouble and confound after a strange fashion the content-
ment of our spirits, as appeareth plainly in this little book, which

< leserveth to be well perused and considered by all sorts of people.
;^ow after he hath shewed what this evil shamefastness is, he

< .eclareth that it is no less pernicious and hurtful than impudency ;
{ dding, moreover, that we ought to take good heed, lest in avoiding
i; we fall into contrary extremities, as they do who are envious,
i hameless, obstinate, idle and dissolute. Then he proceedeth to
1 3ach us that the first and principal preservative against this poison
i 1, to hold it for to be most dangerous and deadly, which he doth
\ erify and prove by notable examples. Which dose, he describeth
J articularly and from point to point, the incommodities, perils, and
I lisfortunes that come by naughty bashfulness, appljdng thereto
§ ood and proper remedies, giving withal many sage and wise counsels
c rawn out of philosophy, tending to this scope and mark ; that
I either the regard of our friends, kinsfolk, and familiars, nor yet the
r !spect of anything else besides, ought to draw from our thought,
c IT mouth, or hands, anything contrary to the duty of an honest
nan: which both for the present and also all the rest of our life
r jay leave in our soul the cicatrice or scar of repentance, sorrow,
a id heaviness. In conclusion, to the end that we should not commit
t lose deeds in haste which afterwards we may repent at leisure;
h ; sheweth that we ought to have before our eyes the hurts and
i; conveniences caused before by evil bashfulness, that the considera-
t an thereof might keep us from falling into fresh and new faults.]

187

1 88 Plutarch's Morals

Among those plants which the earth bringeth forth, some there
are which not only by their own nature be wild and savage,
and withal bearing no fruit at all; but (that which worse is) in
their growth do hurt unto good seeds and fruitful plants: and
yet skilful gardeners and husbandmen judge them to be argu-
ments and signs, not of bad ground, but rather of a kind and
fat soil ; semblably the passions and affections of the mind simply
and in themselves are not good, howbeit they spring as buds
and flowers from a towardly nature, and such as gently can yield
itself to be wrought, framed, and brought into order by reason.

In this kind I may range that which the Greeks call rj AucrwTrta,
which is as much to say, as a foolish and rustical shamefastness ;
no evil sign in itself, howbeit the cause and occasion of evil and
naughtiness. For they that be given to bash and shame over-
much and when they should not, commit many times the same
faults that they do who are shameless and impudent: here only
is the difference, that they, when they trespass and do amiss,
are displeased with themselves, and grieve for the matter;
whereas these take delight and pleasure therein: for he that is
graceless and past shame hath no sense or feeling of grief when
he hath committed any foul or dishonest act; contrariwise,
whosoever be apt to bash and be ashamed quickly are soon
moved and troubled anon, even at those things which seem
only dishonest, although they be not indeed.

Now, lest the equivocation of the word might breed any
doubt, I mean by dysopia, immoderate bashfulness, whereby
one blusheth for shame exceedingly and for everything, where-
upon such an one is called in Greek dysopeius, for that his visage
and countenance together with his mind changeth, falleth and
is cast down: for like as KaT-^(f)eia in Greek is defined to be a
sad heaviness, which causeth a down-look ; even so, that shanie
and dismayedness which maketh us that we dare not look a
man in the face as we should and when we ought, they call
17 Ava-wTTia. And hereupon it was that the great orator Demos-
thenes said of an impudent fellow that he had in his eyes not
Ko/aots but TTopvas, i.e., harlots, playing prettily upon the ambi-
guity of the word Koprj, which signifieth both the round apple
in the eyes, and also a maiden or virgin : but contrariwise the
over-bashful person (whom we speak of) sheweth in his coun-
tenance a mind too soft, delicate and effeminate, and yet he
flattereth himself therein, and calleth that fault (wherein the
impudent person surpasseth him) shamefastness. Now Cato
was wont to say that he loved to see young folk rather to blush

Unseemly and Naughty Bashfulness 189

;han to look pale; as having good reason to acquaint and teach
youth to dread shame and reproach more than blame and
reproof; yea, and suspicion or obloquy rather than peril or
danger.

Howbeit, we must abridge and cut off the excess and over-
much, which is in such timidity and fear of reproach; for that
oftentimes it cometh to pass in some, who dreading no less to
hear ill and be accused than to be chastised or punished; for
ialse hearts are frighted from doing their duty, and in no wise
(an abide to have an hard word spoken of them. But as we
i re not to neglect these that are so tender, nor ought to feed
them in their feebleness of heart; so again, we must not praise
their disposition who are stiff and inflexible: such as the poet
c escribeth when he saith :

Who fearless is, and basheth not

All men fast to behold;
In whom appears the dogged force

Of Anaxarchus bold:

t ut we ought to compound a good mixture and temperate medley
c f both extremities, which may take away this excessive obstinacy

V hich is impudence, and that immoderate modesty which is
riere childishness and imbecility. True it is that the cure of
tiese two maladies is difficult; neither can this excess both in
t le one and the other be cut off without danger. For like as
t le skilful husbandman when he would rid the ground of some

V ild bushes and fruitless plants, he layeth at them mainly with
h s grubbing hook or mattock, until he have fetched them up
hf the root; or else sets fire unto them and so bumeth them;
b it when he comes to prune or cut a vine, an apple-tree, or an
o ive, he carrieth his hand lightly for fear of wounding any of
tl e sound wood, in fetching off the superfluous and rank
b anches, and so kill the heart thereof; even so the philosopher,
ii tending to pluck out of the mind of a young man either envy,
a 1 unkind and savage plant, which hardly or unneth at all may
b : made gentle and brought to any good use ; or the unseasonable
a: id excessive greediness of gathering good, or dissolute and
d sordinate lust; he never feareth at all in the cutting thereof,
t( draw blood, to press and pierce hard to the bottom, yea, and
t( make a large wound and deep scar. But when he setteth to
tl e keen edge of remonstrance and speech, to the tender and
d' licate part of the soul, for to cut away that which is excessive
o overmuch, to wit, wherein is seated this unmeasurable and

4Bt eepish bashfulness, he hath a great care and regard, lest ere he

190 Plutarch's Morals

be aware he cut away therewith that ingenuous and honest
shamefastness that is so good and commendable. For we see
that even nurses themselves, when they think to wipe away the
filth of their little infants, and to make them clean; if they rub
anything hard, otherwhiles fetch off the skin withal, make the
flesh raw and put them to pain.

And therefore we must take heed, that in seeking by all
means to do out this excessive bashfulness utterly in young
people we make them not brazen-faced, such as care not what is
said unto them, and blush thereat no more than a blackdog, and
in one word, standing stiff in anything that they do; but rather
we ought to do as they who demolish and pull down the dwelling-
houses that be near unto the temples of the gods ; who for fear
of touching anything that is holy or sacred, suffer those ends of
the edifices and buildings to stand still which are next and joined
close thereto ; yea, and those they underprop and stay up, that
they should not fall down of themselves ; even so (I say) beware
and fear we must, whiles we be tempering about this immoderate
shamefacedness for to remove it, that we do not draw away
with it grace and modesty, gentleness and debonairity, which be
adjacents and lie close unto it; under which qualities lieth
lurking and sticketh close to, the foresaid naughty bashfulness,
flattering him that is possessed therewith, as if he were full of
humanity, courtesy, civility and common sense; not opiniona-
tive, severe, inflexible and untractable : which is the reason that
the Stoic philosophers, when they dispute of this matter, have
distinguished by several names this aptness to blush or over-
much bashfulness from modesty and shamefacedness indeed:
for fear lest the equivocation and ambiguity of one common
word might give some occasion and vantage to the vicious
passion itself to do some hurt. As for us, they must give us
leave to use the terms without calumniation, or rather permit us
to distinguish according to Homer, when he saith:

Shame is a thing that doth mickle harm, and profiteth as much ;

neither without good cause is it, that in the former place he
putteth down the harm and discommodity thereof: for surely
it is not profitable but by the means of reason, which cutteth off
that which is superfluous, and leaveth a mean behind.

To come then unto the remedies thereof; it behoveth him
first and foremost, who is given to blushing at every small
matter, to believe and be persuaded that he is possessed with
such an hurtful passion (now there is nothing hurtful which

Unseemly and Naughty Bashfulness 191

is good and honest): neither ought he to take pleasure and
ieHght when he shall be tickled in the ear with praises and
:ommendations, when he shall hear himself called gentle, jolly
ind courteous, instead of grave, magnanimous and just; neither
et him do as Pegasus the horse in Euripides, who

When mount his back Bellerophontes should,

With trembling stoop'd more than his own self would;

hat is to say, give place and yield after a base manner to the
demands and requests of every man; or object himself to their
^vill and pleasure, for fear (forsooth) lest one should say of him,
.jO, what a hard man is this ! See how inexorable he is.

It is reported of Bocchorus, a king of Egypt, that being rough,
3 ell and austere, the goddess Isis sent the serpent called Aspis
ior to wind and wreath about his head, and so to cast a shadow
< ver him from above, to the end that he might be put in mind
I0 judge aright: but this excessive shamefastness which always
( verspreadeth and covereth them who are not manly but
i lint-hearted and effeminate, not suffering them once to dare,
1 0 deny, or gainsay anything, surely, would avert and withdraw
j idges from doing justice, close up their mouths, that in counsels
end consultations should deliver their opinion frankly; yea,
£ nd cause them both to say and do many things inconsiderately
against their mind, which otherwhiles they would not. For
!■ )ok, whosoever is most unreasonable and importunate, he will
e/er tyrannise and domineer over such an one, forcing by his
Lipudency the bashfulness of the other: by which means it
c )meth to pass that this excessive shame, like unto a low piece
0 ■ soft ground which is ready to receive all the water that comes,
a id apt to be overflowed and drowned, having no power to
V ithstand and repulse any encounter, nor say a word to the
c )ntrary whatsoever is proposed, yieldeth access to the lewdest
d :signs, acts and passions that be. An evil guardian and
k :eper of childhood and young age is this excessive bashfulness,
a Brutus well said, who was of this mind, that neither he nor
s] e could well and honestly pass the flower of their fresh youth,
^ 10 had not the heart and face to refuse and deny anything;
e en so likewise a bad governess it is of the bride-bed and
vi jmen's chamber, according to that which she said in Sophocles
t( the adulterer who repented of the fact:

Thy flattering words have me seduced,
And so persuaded, I am abused.

Ii such sort as this bashfulness, over and besides that it is

192 Plutarch's Morals

vicious and faulty itself, spoileth and marreth clean the intem-
perate and incontinent person, by making no resistance to his
appetites and demands, but letting all lie unfortified, unbarred
and unlocked, yielding easy access and entrance to those that
will make assault and give the attempt, who may by great gifts
and large offers catch and compass the wickedest natures that
be : but surely by persuasions and inductions, and by the means
withal of this excessive bashfulness, they oftentimes conquer
and get the mastery even of such as are of honest and gentle
disposition.

Here I pass by the detriments and damages that this bashful-
ness hath been the cause of in many matters, and that of profit
and commodity: namely, how many men, having not the heart
to say nay, have put forth and lent their money even to those
whose credit they distrust; have been sureties for such as
otherwise they would have been loth and unwilling to engage
themselves for, who can approve and commend this golden
sentence (written upon the temple of Apollo), Be surety thou
mayst, but make account then to pay: howbeit, they have not
the power to do themselves good by that warning when they
come to deal in the world. And how many have come unto
their end and died by the means of this foolish quahty, it were
hard to reckon. For Creon in Euripides, when he spake thus
unto Medea:

For me, madame, it were much better now
By flat denial your mind to discontent.

Than having once thus yielded unto you
Sigh afterwards full sore, and ay repent,

gave a very good lesson for others to follow; but himself over-
come at length through his foolish bashfulness, granting one
day longer of delay at her request, overthrew his own state and
his whole house. Some there were also, who doubting and
suspecting that they were laid for to be bloodily murdered, or
made away by poison, yet upon a foolish modesty not refusing
to go into the place of danger, came to their death and were
soon destroyed. Thus died Dion; who, notwithstanding he
knew well enough that Callippus laid wait for him to take away
his life, yet (forsooth) abashed he was to distrust his friend and
host, and so to stand upon his guard. Thus was Antipater, the
son of Cassander, massacred ; who having first invited Demetrius
to supper, was bidden the morrow after to his house like-
wise; and for that he was abashed to mistrust Demetrius,
who the day before had trusted him, refused not to go, but after

Unseemly and Naughty Bashfulness 193

supper he was murdered for his labour. Moreover, when
Polysperchon had undertaken and promised unto Cassander for
the sum of one hundred talents to kill Hercules (a base son of
King Alexander by Lady Barsine), he sent and requested the
said Hercules to sup with him in his lodging, the young gentle-
man had no liking at all to such a bidding, but mistrusting and
fearing his courtesy, alleged for his excuse that he was not well
at ease : whereupon Polysperchon came himself in person unto
him, and in this manner began to persuade: Above all things,
my good child (quoth he), study and endeavour to imitate the
humanity and sociable nature of your noble father, unless haply
you have me in jealousy and suspicion as if I went about to
compass your death. The youth was abashed to hear him say
30, and went with him; well, supper was no sooner ended but
they made an end of the young gentleman also, and strangled
him outright: so that it is no ridiculous and foolish advertise-
ment (as some let not to say), but a wise and sage advice of
Hesiodus, when he saith:

Thy friend and lover to supper do invite,
Thy foe leave out, for he will thee requite.

Be not in any wise bashful and ashamed to refuse his offer whom
thou knowest to hate thee: but never leave out and reject him
Dnce who seemeth to put his trust and confidence in thee: for
if thou do invite, thou shalt be invited again; and if thou be
bidden to a supper and go, thou canst not choose but bid again;
if thou abandon once thy distrust and diffidence, which is the
juard of thy safety, and so mar that good tincture and tem-
perature by a foolish shame that thou hast, when thou darest
lot refuse.

Seeing then that this infirmity and malady of the mind is the
:ause of many inconveniences, assay we must to chase it away
with all the might we have by exercise, beginning at the first
like as men do in other exercises, with things that are not very
difficult, nor such as a man may boldly have the face to deny:
IS for example, if at a dinner one chance to drink unto thee,
when thou hast drunk sufficiently already, be not abashed to
-efuse for to pledge him, neither force thyself, but take the cup
It his hand and set it down again on the board ; again, there is
mother perchance that amidst his cups challengeth thee to
lazard or to play at dice; be not ashamed to say him nay,
leither fear thou although thou receive a flout and scoff at his
lands for denial: but rather do as Xenophanes did, when one

G

194 Plutarch's Morals

Lasus, the son of Hermiones, called him coward because he
would not play at dice with him: I confess (quoth he) I am a
very dastard in those things that be lewd and naught, and I
dare do nothing at all; moreover, say thou fall into the hands
of a prattling and talkative busybody, who catcheth hold on
thee, hangeth upon thee and will not let thee go? be not
sheepish and bashful; but interrupt and cut his tale short,
shake him off, I say, but go thou forward and make an end of
thy business whereabout thou wentest: for such refusals, such
repulses, shifts, and evasions in small matters, for which men
cannot greatly complain of us, exercising us not to blush and
be ashamed when there is no cause, do inure and frame us well
beforehand unto other occasions of greater importance.

And here, in this place, it were not amiss to call unto remem-
brance a speech of Demosthenes : for when the Athenians, being
solicited and moved to send aid unto Harpalus, were so forward
in the action that they had put themselves in arms against King
Alexander, all on a sudden they discovered upon their own
coasts Philoxenus, the lieutenant-general of the king's forces,
and chief admiral of his armada at sea: now when the people
were so astonied upon this unexpected occurrence, that they
had not a word to say for very fear: What will these men do
(quoth Demosthenes) when they shall see the sun, who are so
afraid that they dare not look against a little lamp; even so I
say to thee that art given much to blush and be abashed : What
wilt thou be able to do in weighty affairs, namely, when thou
shalt be encountered by a king; or if the body of some people or
state be earnest with thee to obtain ought at thy hand that is
unreasonable? when thou hast not the heart to refuse for to
pledge a familiar friend if he chance to drink unto thee and offer
thee a cup of wine ? or if thou canst not find means to escape
and wind thyself out of the company of a babbling busybody
that hath fastened and taken hold of thee, but suffer such a
vain prating fellow as this to walk and lead thee at his pleasure
up and down, having not so much power as to say thus unto
him: I will see you again hereafter at some other time, now I
have no leisure to talk with you.

Over and besides, the exercise and use of breaking yourselves
of this bashfulness in praising others for small and light matters,
will not be unprofitable unto you; as for example: Say that
when you are at a feast of your friends, the harper or minstrel
do either play or sing out of tune ; or haply an actor of a comedy,
dearly hired for a good piece of money, by his ill grace in acting

Unseemly and Naughty Bashfulness 195

mar the play and disgrace the author himself, Menander, and

yet nevertheless, the vulgar sort do applaud, clap their hands,

and highly commend and admire him for his deed: in mine

advice it would be no great pain or difficulty for thee to give

him the hearing with patience and silence, without praising him

after a servile and flattering manner, otherwise than you think

it meet and reason: for if in such things as these you be not

master of yourself, how will you be able to hold when some

dear friend of yours shall read unto you either some foolish

rhyme or bad poesy that himself hath composed? if he shall

shew unto you some oration of his own foolish and ridiculous

penning? you will fall a-praising of him, will you ? you will keep

a-clapping of your hands with other flattering jacks? I would

not else. And if you do so, how can you reprove him when he

shall commit some gross fault in greater matters? how shall

you be able to admonish him, if he chance to forget himself in

the administration of some magistracy or in his carriage in

wedlock, or in politic government? And verily, for mine own

part, I do not greatly allow and like of that answer of Pericles,

who being requested by a friend to bear false witness in his

behalf, and to bind the same with an oath, whereby he should

be forsworn: I am your friend (quoth he) as far as the altar;

as if he should have said: Saving my conscience and duty to

the gods: for surely he was come too near already unto him.

But he who hath accustomed himself long before neither to

praise against his own mind one who hath made an oration, nor

to applaud unto him who hath sung, nor to laugh heartily at

him who came out with some stale or poor jest which had no

grace; he will (I trow) never suffer his friend and familiar to

proceed so far as to demand such a request of him, or once be

so bold as to move him (who before had refused in smaller trifles

to satisfy his desire) in this manner: Be perjured for me; bear

false witness for my sake; or pronounce an unjust sentence for

the love of me.

After the same manner we ought to be prepared and provided
beforehand against those that be instant to borrow money of
us, namely, if we have been used to deny them in matters that
neither be of great moment nor hard to be refused. There was
one upon a time, who being of this mind, that there was nothing
so honest as to crave and receive, begged of Archelaus, the king
of Macedonia (as he sate at supper), the cup of gold whereout
he drunk himself; the king called unto his page that waited at
his trencher, and commanded him to give the said cup unto

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Euripides, who sat at the board; and withal, casting his eye
wistly upon the party who craved it: As for you, sir (quoth he),
worthy you are for your asking to go without; but Euripides
deserveth to have, though he do not crave. A worthy speech,
importing thus much, that the judgment of reason ought to be
the best master and guide to direct us in our gifts and free
liberaUty, and not bashfulness and shame to deny.

But we, contrariwise, neglecting and despising many times
those that be honest and modest persons, yea, our very familiar
friends, who have need of our help, and seem to request the
same, are ready to bestow our bounty upon such as incessantly
importune us with their impudent craving, not for any affection
that we have to pleasure them, but because we cannot find in
our heart to say them nay. Thus did King Antigonus the elder
to Bias, after he had been a long time an importunate beggar:
Give this Bias (quoth he) a talent, for methinks he will have it
perforce: and yet this Ajitigonus, of all princes and kings that
ever were, had the best grace and most dexterity to put by and
shift off such unreasonable beggars : for when a beggarly cynical
philosopher craved once at his hands a drachm : It is not for a
king (quoth he) to give a drachm : Why then (quoth the other
again) give me a talent : Neither is it meet (quoth the king) for
a cynic to receive a talent. Diogenes, as he walked otherwhiles
along the Ceramicum (that is, a street in Athens, where stood
erected the statues of worthy personages), would ask alms of
those images ; and when some marvelled at him therefore : I do
it (quoth he) to learn how to take a repulse and denial. Sem-
blably, we ought first to be trained in small matters, and to
exercise ourselves in denying slight requests unto such as would
seem to demand and have at our hands that which is not fit
and requisite, to the end that we may not be to seek for an
answer when we would deny them in matters of greater im-
portance: for as Demosthenes was wont to say: He who hath
spent and bestowed that which he had otherwise than he should,
will never employ those things which he hath, not as he ought,
if peradventure he should be furnished again therewith. And
look how often we do fail, and be wanting in honest things, and
yet abound in superfluities, it is a sign that we are in a great
fault, and many ways shame groweth to us by that means.

Moreover, so it is, that this excessive bashfulness is not only
a bad and undiscreet steward to lay out and to disperse our
money, but also to dispose of our serious affairs and those of
great consequence, wherein it will hot admit the advice and

Unseemly and Naughty Bashfulness 197

counsel that reason giveth; for oftentimes it falleth out that
when we be sick, we send not for the best and most expert
physicians, in respect of some friend, whom we favour and
reverence so, as we are loth to do otherwise than he would advise
us : likewise we chuse for masters and teachers of our children,
not those always who are best and meetest, but such as make
suit and means unto us for to be entertained; yea, and many
times, when we have a cause to be tried in the law, we chuse
not always the most sufficient and expert advocates or barristers
for our counsel to plead for us; but for to gratify a son of some
familiar friend or kinsman of our own, we commit the cause to
him for to practise and learn to plead in court to our great cost
and loss.

To conclude, we may see many of those that make profession
of philosophy, to wit. Epicureans, Stoics, and others, how they
follow this or that sect, not upon their own judgment and
election; but for that they were importuned by some of their
kinsfolk or friends thereto, whom they were loth to deny.
Come on, then, let us long before be exercised against such
gross faults in vulgar, small and common occasions of this life;
as, for example, let us break ourselves from using either a barber
to trim us, or a painter ^ to draw our picture, for to satisfy the
appetite of our foolish shamefacedness; from lodging also in
some bad inn or hostelry where there is a better near at hand,
because haply our host the good man of the house hath often-
times saluted us kindly; but rather make we a custom of it
(although there be but small difference and odds between one
and another) always to chuse the better: and like as the
Pythagoreans observed evermore precisely not to cross the right
leg with the left, neither to take an odd number for an even,
though otherwise all things else were equal and indifferent ; even
so are we to draw this into an ordinary practice, that when we
celebrate any solemn sacrifice, or make a wedding dinner, or
some great feast, we invite not him who is wont with reverence
to give us the gentle greeting and good-morrow, or who seeing
us a great way off useth to run unto us, rather than him yvhom
we know to be an honest man and a well-wilier of ours; for
whosoever is thus inured and exercised long before shall be
hardly caught and surprised ; nay, rather he shall never be once
assailed and set upon in weighty matters. And thus much may
suffice as touching exercise and custom.

Moreover, to come unto other profitable instructions which
I 7po0et, Erasmus seemeth to read yva<psi, i.e., a fuller.

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we have gathered for this purpose, the principal in mine advice
is this, which sheweth and teacheth us that all the passions and
maladies of the mind be ordinarily accompanied with those
inconveniences which we would seem to avoid by their means:
as, for example, ambition and desire of honour hath commonly
attending upon it dishonour; pain usually followeth the love of
pleasures; labour and travail ensueth upon ease and delicacy;
repulse, overthrows, and condemnations are the ends that ensue
daily upon those that are given to be litigious, contentious, and
desirous to cast, foil and conquer others; semblably it happeneth
unto excessive bashfulness, which seeming to fly and shun the
smoke of blame, casteth itself into the very fire and flame of
infamy. For those who be abashed to gainsay and deny them,
who importune them unreasonably, and will take no nay in
things unjust, are constrained afterwards to bear both shame
and blame at their hands who justly call them to their answer
and accuse them worthily; and whiles they fear some light
check or private rebuke, many times they are fain to incur and
sustain open disgrace and reproach: for being abashed to deny
a friend who craveth to borrow money, as being loth to say they
have none, within a while after (with shame enough) they blush,
when they shall be convinced to have had one; and having
promised to assist and stand to some who have suit in law, by
that means are forced to contend with others, and afterwards
being ashamed thereof, are driven to hide their heads and fly
out of the way. Also there be many whom this foolish modesty
hath caused to enter into some disadvantageous promise as
touching the marriage either of daughter or sister, and being
entangled therewith have been constrained afterwards up)on
change of mind to break their word and fail in their promise;
as for him who said in old time, that all the inhabitants of Asia
served as slaves unto one man ; for that they knew not how to
pronounce one only negative syllable, ov, that is. No; he spake
not in earnest but by way of bourd, and was disposed to jest:
but surely these bashful persons may if they list without one
word - spoken, by knitting and bending their brows only, or
nodding downward to the ground, avoid and escape many
offices and absurd inconveniences, which oftentimes they do
unwillingly and only upon importunity. For as Euripides said
very well:

Wise men do know how things to take:

And of silence an answer to make.

And haply we have more cause to take that course with such

Unseemly and Naughty Bashfulness 199

as be senseless and unreasonable: for to those who be honest,
sensible, and of more humanity, we need not fear to make
excuse and satisfy them by word of mouth. And for this
purpose it were not amiss to be furnished with many answers
and notable apothegms of great and famous persons in times
past; and to have them ready at hand to allege against such
importunate and impudent fellows. Such was that saying of
Phocion to Antipater: You cannot have me to be your friend
and a flatterer too ; likewise the answer which he made unto the
Athenians, who were earnest with him to contribute and give
somewhat toward the charges of solemnising a great feast, and
withal applauded and clapped their hands: It were a shame
(quoth he) that I should give anything over and above unto
you, and not to pay that which I owe to him yonder, pointing
therewith to Callicles the usurer: for as Thucydides said; It
is no shame to confess and acknowledge poverty; but more
shameful it is indeed not to avoid and eschew it. But he who
by reason of a faint, feeble and delicate heart dare not for foolish
shame answer thus unto one that demandeth to borrow money :

My friend, I have in house or purse
No silver white, for to disburse,

and then suffereth to pass out of his mouth a promise (as it
were), an earnest penny or pawn of assurance:

Is tied by foot with fetters not of brass

Nor iron wrought ; but shame, and cannot pass.

But Perseus, when he lent forth a sum of money to one of his
familiar friends and acquaintance, went into the open market-
place to pass the contract at the very bank or table of exchangers
and usurers; being mindful of that rule and precept of the poet
Hesiodus, which teacheth us in these words :

However thou laugh with brother more or less.
With him make no contract without witness.

Now when his friend marvelled hereat and said; How now,
Perseus, so formally and according to law? Yea (quoth he),
because I would receive my money again of you friendly, and
not require it by course and suit of law. For many there be who
at the first upon a kind of foolish modesty are abashed to call
for assurance and security, but afterward be forced to proceed
by order of law, and so»make their friends their enemies. Again,
Cato, sending commendatory letters unto Denys the Tyrant,
in the behalf and favour of one Helicona Cyzicene, as of a kind,

200 Plutarch's Morals

modest, and courteous person, subscribed in manner of a post-
date under his letter thus : That which you read above, take it
as written in the commendation of a man, that is to say, of a
living creature by nature mutable.

Contrariwise, Xenocrates, although he were otherwise in his
behaviour austere, yet being overcome and yielding to a kind
of foolish modesty of his own, recommended in his letters unto
Polysperchon a man of no worth or quality, as it proved after-
wards by the sequel: Now when as that Macedonian lord bade
the party welcome, and friendly gave him his hand, and withal
used some words of course and compliment, demanding whether
he had need of ought, and bidding him call for what he would;
he made no more ado, but craved a whole talent of silver at his
hands; which Polysperchon caused presently indeed to be
weighed out unto him; but he dispatched his letters withal
unto Xenocrates to this effect : That from thenceforth he should
be more circumspect, and consider better whom he recom-
mended unto him: and verily, herein only was the error of
Xenocrates, for that he knew not the man for whom he wrote:
but we oftentimes knowing well enough that they be lewd and
naughty persons, yet are very forward with our commendatory
letters ; yea, and that which more is, our purse is open unto them;
we are ready to put money into their hands, to our own hindrance
and damage; not with any pleasure that we take, nor upon
affection unto them, as they do who bestow their silver upon
courtesans, pleasants, and flatterers to gratify them; hut as
displeased and discontented with their impudency, which over-
tumeth our reason upside down, and forceth us to do against
our own judgment, in such sort that if ever there were cause
besides, we may by good reason say unto these bold and shame-
less beggars, that thus take vantage of our bashfulness:

I see that I must for your sake,
Lewd courses ever undertake ;

namely, in bearing false witness, in pronouncing wrong judg-
ment; in giving my voice at any election for an unworthy and
unmeet person; or in putting my money into his hands, whom
I know unsufficient, and who will never repay it. And therefore,
of all passions this lewd and excessive modesty is that which is
accompanied presently with repentance, and hath it not follow-
ing afterwards as the rest : for at the very instant when we give
away our money, we grieve; when we bear such witness, we
blush; when we assist them and set to our helping hand, we

Unseemly and Naughty Bashfulness 201

incur infamy; and if we furnish them not with that which they
require, we are convinced as though we were not able. And
forasmuch as our weakness is such that we cannot deny them
simply that which they would have, we undertake and promise
many times unto those who do importune and lie upon us
uncessantly, even those things that we are not able to compass
and make good; as namely, our commendatory letters for to
find favour in princes' courts; to be mediators for them unto
great rulers and governors, and to talk with them about their
causes; as being neither willing nor so hardy as thus to say;
The king knoweth not us; he regardeth others more, and you
were better go to such and such. After this manner, when
Lysander had offended King Agesilaus and incurred his heavy
displeasure, and yet was thought worthy to be chief in credit
above all those that were about him, in regard of the great
opinion and reputation that men had of him for his noble acts,
he never bashed to repel and put back those suitors that came
unto him, making excuse and bidding them to go unto others,
and assay them, who were in greater credit with the king than
himself. For it is no shame not to be able to effect all things,
but for a man to be driven upon a foolish modesty to enterprise
such matters as he is neither able to compass nor meet to
manage, besides that it is shameful, I hold it also a right great
corrosive to the heart.

But now to go unto another principle, we ought willingly and
with a ready heart to do pleasure unto those that request at our
hands such things as be meet and reasonable; not as forced
thereto by a rustical fear of shame, but as yielding unto reason
and equity. Contrariwise, if their demands be hurtful, absurd,
and without all reason, we ought evermore to have the saying
of Zeno in readiness, who meeting with a young man, one of his
acquaintance, walking close under the town wall secretly as if
he would not be seen, asked of him the cause of his being there,
and understanding by him that it was because he would avoid
one of his friends, who had been earnest with him to bear false
witness in his behalf: What sayst thou (quoth Zeno), sot that
thou art? Was thy friend so bold and shameless to require
that of thee which is unreasonable, unjust and hurtful unto
thee ? And darest thou not stand against him in that which is
just and honest? For whosoever he was that said:

A crooked wedge is fit to cleave

A knotted knurry tree.
It well beseems against lewd folk

With lewdness arm'd to be.

202 Plutarch's Morals

teacheth us an ill lesson, to learn to be naught ourselves when we
would be revenged of naughtiness. But such as repulse those who
impudently and with a shameless face do molest and trouble
them, not suffering themselves to be overcome with shamefaced-
ness, but rather shame to grant unto shameless beggars those
things that be shameful, are wise men and well advised, doing
herein that which is right and just.

Now as touching those importunate and shameless persons
who otherwise are but obscure, base and of no worth, it is of
no great matter to resist them when they be troublesome unto
us. And some there be who make no more ado but shift them
oflf with laughter or a scoff: like as Theocritus served twain who
would seem to borrow of him his rubber or currying-comb in
the very bain; of which two, the one was a mere stranger unto
him, the other he knew well enough for a notorious thief: I
know not you (quoth he) to the one; and to the other, I know
what you are well enough; and so he sent them both away
with a mere frump. Lysimache, the priestess of Minerva in
Athens, sumamed Polias, that is, the patroness of the city,
when certain muleteers who brought sacrifices unto the temple
called unto her for to pour them out drink freely: No (quoth
she), my good friends, I may not do so, for fear you will make
a custom of it.

Antigonus had under him in his retinue a young gentleman,
whose father in times past had been a good warrior, and led a
band or company of soldiers, but himself was a very coward and
of no service, and when he sued unto him (in regard of his
birth) to be advanced unto the place of his father, late deceased:
Young man (quoth he), my manner is to recompense and honour
the prowess and manhood of my soldiers, and not their good
parentage. But if the party who assaileth our modesty be a
noble man, of might and authority (and such kind of persons of
all other will most hardly endure a repulse, and be put off with
a denial or excuse, and namely, in the case of giving sentence or
award in a matter of judgment, or in a voice at the election of
magistrates), peradventure it may be thought neither easy nor
necessary to do that which Cato sometimes did, being then but
of young years, unto Catulus; now this Catulus was a man of
■exceeding great authority among the Romans, and for that time
bear the censorship, who came unto Cato (then lord high
treasurer of Rome that year) as a mediator and intercessor for
one who had been condemned before by Cato in a round fine,
pressing and importuning him so hard with earnest prayer and

Unseemly and Naughty Bashfulness 203

entreaty, that in the end Cato, seeing how urgent and unreason-
able he was, and not able to endure him any longer, was forced
to say thus unto him : You would think it a foul disgrace and
shame for you, Catulus, censor as you are, since you will not
receive an answer and be gone, if my serjeants and officers
here should take you by the head and shoulders and send you
away: with that, Catulus being abashed and ashamed, departed
in great anger and discontentment.

But consider rather and see whether the answer of Agesilaus
and that which Themistocles made, were not more modest and
savoured of greater humanity: for Agesilaus, when his own
father willed him to give sentence in a certain cause that was
brought before him, against all right and directly contrary to
the laws: Father (quoth he), yourself have taught me from my
very childhood to obey the laws; I will be therefore obedient
still to your good precepts, and pass no judgment against law.
As for Themistocles, when as Simonides seemed to request of
him somewhat which was unjust and unlawful: Neither were
you, Simonides (quoth he), a good poet, if you should not keep
time and number in your song, nor I a good magistrate if I
should judge against the law. And yet (as Plato was wont to
say) it is not for want of due proportion between the neck and
body of the lute, that one city is at variance with another city,
and friends fall out and be at difference, doing what mischief
they can one to another, and suffering the like again; but for
this rather, that they offend and fail in that which concerneth
law and justice. Howbeit, you shall have some, who them-
selves observing the precise rules most exactly according to art
in music, in grammatical orthography, and in the poetical
quantity of syllables and measures of feet, can be in hand with
others, and request them to neglect and forget that which they
ought to do in the administration of government, in passing of
judgments, and in their other actions.

And therefore, with such as these be, I would have you take
this course which I will now tell you: Is there an advocate or
rhetorician that doth importune you sitting as judge upon the
bench? or is there an orator that troubleth you with an un-
reasonable suit as you sit in council? grant them both that
which they request, upon condition that the one in the entry
of his plea will commit a solecism or incongruity, and the other
in the beginning of his narration come out with some barbarism:
but it is all to nothing that they will never do so, it would be
thought such a shame; and in very truth, we see that some of

204 Plutarch's Morals

them are so fine eared that they cannot abide in a speech or
sentence that two vowels should come together: again, Is he
one of the nobility, or a man of honour and authority, that
troubleth you with some unhonest suit? will him likewise for your
sake to pass through the market-place hopping and dancing,
making mows, and writhing his mouth; but if he deny so to
do, then have you good occasion and fit opportunity to come
upon him with this revie, and demand of him, whether of the
twain be more dishonest, to make incongruity in speech, and
to make mows, and set the mouth awry; or to break the laws,
commit perjury, and beside all right, equity and conscience, to
award and adjudge more unto the lewd and wicked than to
good and honest persons?

Moreover, like as Nicostratus the Argive answered unto
Archidamus, who solicited him with a good sum of money
(promising him besides in marriage what lady he would himself
chuse in all Lacedaemon) to betray and render up by treason
the town Cromnum: I see well (quoth he), 0 Archidamus, that
you are not descended from the race of Hercules, for that he
travelled through the world killing wicked persons whom he
had vanquished, but your study is to make them wicked who
are good and honest; even so we ought to say unto him, who
would be thought a man of worth and good mark, and yet
Cometh to press and force us to commit those deeds which are
not befitting, that he doth that which beseemeth not his
nobility or opinion of virtue.

Now if they be mean and base persons to account who shall
thus tempt you, go this way to work with such: If he be a
covetous miser, and one that loveth his money too well, see
and try whether you can induce and persuade him by all im-
portunity to credit you with a talent of silver upon your bare
word, without schedule, obligation or specialty for his security;
or if he be an ambitious and vain-glorious person, try if you
can prevail with him so much as to give you the upper hand
or higher seat in public place; or if he be one that desireth to
bear rule and oflfice, assay him whether he will give over his
possibility that he hath to such a magistracy, especially when
he is in the ready way to obtain it ? Certes, we may well think
it a very strange and absurd thing that such as they in their
vices and passions should stand and continue so stiff, so resolute
and so hard to be removed; and we who profess and would be
reputed honest men, lovers of virtue, justice and equity, cannot
be masters of ourselves, but suffer virtue to be subverted, and

Unseemly and Naughty Bashfulness 205

cast it at our heels. For if they who by their importunity urge
our modesty, do it either for their own reputation or their
authority, it were absurd and beside the purpose for us to
augment the honour, credit and authority of another, and to
dishonour, discredit and disgrace ourselves ; like unto those who
be in an ill name, and incur the obloquy of the world, who either
in public and solemn games defraud those of the prizes and
rewards who have achieved victory, or who at the election of
magistrates, deprive those of their right of suffrages and voices
to whom it doth belong, for to gratify others that deserve it not,
thereby to procure to the one sort the honour of sitting in high
places, and to the other the glory of wearing coronets, and so
by doing pleasure unto others, falsify their own faith, defame
themselves, and lose the opinion and reputation they had of
honesty and good conscience. Now if we see that it is for his
own lucre and gain that any one urge us beyond all reason to
do a thing, how is it that we do not presently consider that it
is absurd and without all sense to hazard and put to compromise
(as it were) our own reputation and virtue for another man, to
the end that the purse of some one (I know not who) should
thereby be more weighty and heavy?

But certainly many there be unto whom such considerations
as these are presented, and who are not ignorant that they
tread aside and do amiss; much like to them who, being
challenged to drink off great bowls full of wine, take pains to
pledge them with much ado, even so long till their eyes be
ready to start out of their heads, changing their countenance,
and panting for want of wind, and all to pleasure those that put
them to it. But surely this feebleness of mind and faint heart
of theirs resembleth the weak constitution and temperature of
the body, which cannot away either with scorching heat or
chilling cold. For be they praised by those who set upon them
thus impudently, they are ready to leap out of their skins for
joy; and say they doubt for to be accused, checked, rebuked or
suspected, if haply they deny, then they are ready to die for
woe and fear.

But we ought to be well defended and fortified against the
one and the other, that we yield neither to them that terrify
us, nor to those that flatter us, Thucydides veiily supposing
it impossible for one to be great or in high place and not envied,
saith, That the man is well advised and led by good counsel who
shooteth at the greatest and highest affairs, if he must be
subject unto envy. For mine own part, thinking as I do,

2o6 Plutarch's Morals

that it is no hard matter to escape envy, but to avoid all
complaints and to keep ourselves from being molested by
some one or other that converse with us and keep our
company, a thing impossible: I suppose it good counsel for
us, and the best thing we can do for our own safety, to incur
rather the ill will and displeasure of lewd, importunate and
unreasonable people, than of those who have just cause to
blame and accuse us, if against all right and justice we satisfy
their minds and be ready to do them service and pleasure: as
for the praises and commendations which proceed from such
lewd and shameless persons, being as they are in every respect
counterfeit and sophistical, we ought to beware and take heed
of; neither must we suffer ourselves as swine to be rubbed,
scratched or tickled, and all the whiles stand still and gently,
letting them do with us what they will, until they may with
ease lay us all along, when we have once yielded to be so handled
at their pleasure: for surely they that give ear to flatterers
differ in no respect from those who set out their legs of purpose
to be supplanted and to have their heels tripped up from under
them; save only in this, that those are worse foiled and catch
the more shameful fall, I mean as well such as remit punishment
to naughty persons, because forsooth they love to be called
merciful, mild, and gentle; as those on the contrary side, who
being persuaded by such as praise them, do submit themselves
to enmities and accusations needless, but yet perilous; as being
borne in hand and made believe they were the only men, and
such alone as stood invincible against all flattery, yea, and
those whom they stick not to term their very mouths and voices ;
and therefore Bion likened them most aptly to vessels that had
two ears, for that they might be carried so easily by the ears
which way a man would : like as it is reported of one Alexinus,
a sophister, who upon a time as he walked with others in the
gallery Peripatos, spake all that naught was of Stilpo the
Megarean: and when one of the company said unto him.
What mean you by this, considering that of late and no longer
since than the other day, he gave out of you all the good that
may be? I wot well (quoth he), for he is a right honest gentle-
man, and the most courteous person in the world. Contrari-
wise Menedemus, when he heard that Alexinus had praised him
many a time; But I (quoth he) do never speak well of Alexinus;
and therefore a bad man he must needs be, that either praiseth
a naughty person, or is dispraised of an honest man: So hard
it was to turn or catch him by any such means as making use

Unseemly and Naughty Bashfulness 207

and practising that precept which Hercules Atistheneus taught
his children, when he admonished and warned them that they
should never con those thank who praised them: and this was
nothing else but not to suffer a man's self to be overcome by
foolish modesty, nor to flatter them again who praised him.
For this may suffice in mine opinion which Pindarus answered
upon a time to one who said unto him: That in every place and
to all men he never ceased to commend him: Grand mercy
(quoth he), and I will do this favour unto you again that you
may be a true man of your word, and be thought to have
spoken nothing but the truth.

To conclude, that which is good and expedient against all
other affections and passions, they ought surely to remember
who are easily overcome by this hurtful modesty, whensoever
they, giving place soon to the violence of this passion, do
commit a fault and tread awry against their mind : namely, to
call to remembrance the marks and prints of remorse and
repentance sticking fast in their mind, and to repeat eftsoons
and keep the same a long time. For like as wayfaring men,
after they have once stumbled upon a stone; or pilots at sea,
when they have once split their ship upon a rock and suffered
shipwreck, if they call those accidents to remembrance, for ever
after do fear and take heed not only of the same, but of such-
like; even so they that set before their eyes continually the
dishonours and damages which they have received by this
hurtful and excessive modesty, and represent the same to their
mind once wounded and bitten with remorse and repentance,
will in the like afterwards reclaim themselves, and not so easily
another time be perverted and seduced out of the right way.

OF BROTHERLY LOVE OR AMITY

THE SUMMARY

[A MAN should have profited but badly in the school of virtue, if
endeavouring to carry himself honestly toward his friends and
familiars, yea, and his very enemies, he continue still in evil
demeanour with his own brethren, unto whom he is joined naturally
by the streightest line and link that can be devised. But for that
ever since the beginning of the world this proverbial sentence from
time to time hath been current and found true; that the unity of
brethren is a rare thing: Plutarch, after he had complained in the
very entrance of this little book that such a malady as this reigned
mightily in his time, goeth about afterwards to apply a remedy
thereto. And to this effect he sheweth, that since brotherly amity-
is taught and prescribed by nature, those who love not their brethren
be blockish, unnatural, enemies to their own selves; yea, and the
greatest atheists that may be found. And albeit the obligation
wherein we are bound to our parents amounteth to so high a sum
as we are never able fully to discharge ; he proveth notwithstanding,
that brotherly love may stand for one very good payment toward
that debt : whereupon he concludeth, that hatred between brethren
ought to be banished ; for that if it once creep in and get between,
it will be a very hard matter to rejoin and reconcile them again.
Afterwards he teacheth a ready and compendious way how a man
ought to manage and use a brother ill disposed. In what manner
brethren should carry themselves one to another, both during the
life of their father and also after his decease; discoursing at large
upon the duty of those who are the elder, or higher advanced in
other respects; as also what they should do, who are the younger;
namely, that as they are not equal to their other brethren in years,
so they be their inferiors in place of honour and in wealth; likewise
what means as well the one as the other are to follow, for to avoid
envy and jealousy. Which done, he teacheth brethren who in age
come very near their natural duty and kindness that they ought to
shew one unto another; to which purpose he produceth proper
examples of brotherly amity among the pagans: In the end, since
he cannot possibly effect thus much, that brethren should evermore
accord well together, he setteth down what course they are to take
in their differences and disagreements ; and how their friends ought
to be common between them; and for a final conclusion, he treateth
of that honest care and respective regard one of another that they
ought to have, and especieilly of their kinsfolk, which he enricheth
with two other notable examples.]

Those ancient statues representing the two brethren Castor
and Pollux, the inhabitants of the city Sparta were wont in
their language to call SoKava. And two parallel pieces of

208

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 209

timber they are of an equal distance asunder, united and joined
together by two other pieces overthwart: now it should seem
that this was a device fitting very well and agreeable to the
brotherly amity of the said two gods, for to shew that undivisible
union which was between them; and even so, I also do offer
and dedicate unto you, O Nigrinus and Quintus, this little
treatise as touching the amity of brethren, a gift common unto
you both as those who are worthy of the same: for seeing that
of your own accord you practise that already which it teacheth
and exhorteth unto, you shall be thought not so much to be
admonished thereby, as by your example to confirm and testify
the same which therein is delivered; and the joy which you
shall conceive to see that approved and commended which
yourselves do, shall give unto your judgment a farther assurance
to continue therein ; as if your actions were allowed and praised
by virtuous and honest beholders of the same.

Aristarchus verily, the father of Theodectes, scoffing at the
great number of those sophisters or counterfeit sages in his days,
said: That in old time hardly could be found seven wise men
throughout the world; but in our days (quoth he) much ado
there is to find so many fools or ignorant persons. But I may
very well and truly say: That I see in this age wherein we live
the amity of brethren to be as rare as their hatred was in times
past. The examples whereof being so few as they were among
our ancients, were thought by men in those days living, notable
arguments to furnish tragedies and theatres with, as matters
very strange and in a manner fabulous. But contrariwise, all
they that live in this age, if haply they meet with two brethren
that be good and kind one to another, wonder and marvel
thereat as much as if they saw those Molionides (of whom Homer
speaketh) whose bodies seemed to grow together in one: and
as incredible and miraculous do they thinJc it, that brethren
should use in common the patrimony, goods, friends and slaves
which their fathers left behind unto them, as if one and the
same soul alone ruled the feet, hands and eyes of two bodies.

And yet nature herself hath set down a lively example of
that mutual behaviour and carriage that ought to be among
brethren, and the same not far off, but even within our own
bodies, wherein she hath framed and devised for the most part
those members double, and as a man would say, brethren-like
jind twins, which be necessary, to wit, two hands, two feet, two
eyes, two ears and two nostrils; shewing thereby that she hath
thus distinguished them all, not only for their natural health

210 Plutarch's Morals

and safety, but also for a mutual and reciprocal help, and not
for to quarrel and fight one with another. As for the hands,
when she parted them into many fingers, and those of unequal
length and bigness, she hath made them of all other organical
parts the most proper artificious and workmanlike instruments;
insomuch as that ancient philosopher Anaxagoras ascribed the
very cause of man's wisdom and understanding unto the hands.
Howbeit, the contrary unto this should seem rather to be true;
for man was not the wisest of all other living creatures in regard
of his hands, but because by nature being endued with reason,
given to be witty and capable of arts and sciences, he was like-
wise naturally furnished with such instruments as these.

Moreover, this is well known unto every man, that nature
hath formed of one and the same seed, as of one principle of life,
two, three, and more brethren; not to the end that they should
be at debate and variance, but that being apart and asunder,
they might the better and more commodiously help one another.
For those men with three bodies and a hundred arms apiece,
which the poets describe unto us (if ever there were any such),
being joined and grown together in all their parts, were not able
to do anything at all when they were parted asunder, or as it
were, without themselves: which brethren can do well enough,
namely, dwell and keep within house and go abroad together,
meddle in affairs of state, exercise husbandry and tillage one
with another, in case they preserve and keep well that principle
of amity and benevolence which nature hath given them. For
otherwise they should (I suppose) nothing differ from those feet
which are ready to trip or supplant one another, and cause them
to catch a fall: or they should resemble those hands and fingers
which enfolded and clasp one another untowardly against the
course of nature. But rather according as in one and the same
body, the cold, the hot, the dry, and the moist, participating
likewise in one and the same nature and nourishment, if they
do accord and agree well together, engender an excellent tem-
perature and most pleasant harmony, to wit, the health of the
body, without which, neither all the wealth of the world, as
men say,

Nor power of royal majesty.
Which equal is to deity,

have any pleasure, grace or profit: but in case these principal
elements of our life covet to have more than their just propor-
tion, and thereupon break out into a kind of civil sedition,
seeking one to surcrease and overgrow another, soon there

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 2 1 1

ensueth a filthy corruption and confusion which overthroweth
the state of the body and the creature itself; semblably, by the
concord of brethren, the whole race and house is in good case
and flourisheth, the friends and familiars belonging to them
(like a melodious quire of musicians) make a sweet consent and
harmony: for neither they do, nor say, nor think anything that
jarreth or is contrary one to the other,

Whereas in discord such, and taking part,

The worse ef tsoons do speed, whiles better smart ;

to wit, some ill-tongued varlet and pickthank carry-tale within

the house, or some flattering claw-back coming between, and

entering into the house, or else some envious and malicious

neighbour in the city. For like as diseases do engender in those

bodies which neither receive nor stand well affected to their

proper and familiar nourishment, many appetites of strange

and hurtful meats; even so, a slanderous calumniation of

jealousy being gotten once among those of a blood and kindred,

doth draw and bring withal evil words and naughty speeches,

which from without are always ready enough to run thither where

iS a breach lieth open, and where there is some fault already.

That divine master and soothsayer of Arcadie, of whom

Herodotus writeth, when he had lost one of his own natural

"eet, was forced upon necessity to make himself another of

vood : but a brother being fallen out and at war with a brother,

md constrained to get some stranger to be his companion,

;ither out of the market-place and common hall of the city as

le walketh there, or from the public place of exercise, where he

iseth to behold the wrestlers and others; in my conceit doth

lothing else but willingly cut off a part or limb of his own

)ody made of flesh, and engraffed fast unto him, for to set

nother in the place which is of another kind and altogether

stranger. For even necessity itself, which doth entertain,

pprove and seek for friendship and mutual acquaintance,

1 3acheth us to honour, cherish and preserve that which is of the

i ime nature and kind ; for that without friends' society and

i iUowship we are not able to live solitary and alone as most

J ivage beasts, neither will our nature endure it: and therefore

i 1 Menander he saith very well and wisely:

By jolly cheer and bankets day by day.
Think we to find (O father) trusty friends,
To whom ourselves and life commit we may?
No special thing for cost to make amends;
I foimd he hath, who by that means hath met
With shade of friends; for such I count no bet.

212 Plutarch's Morals

For to say a truth, most of our friendships be but shadows,
semblances and images of that first amity which nature hath
imprinted and engraffed in children toward their parents, in
brethren toward their brethren: and he who doth not reverence
nor honour it, how can he persuade and make strangers believe
that he beareth sound and faithful goodwill unto strangers?
Or what man is he who in his familiar greetings and salutations,
or in his letters, will call his friend and companion brother, and
cannot find in his heart so much as to go with his brother in
the same way ? For as it were a point of great folly and madness
to adorn the statue of a brother, and in the meantime to beat
and maim his body; even so, to reverence and honour the name
of a brother in others, and withal to shun, hate, and disdain a
brother indeed, were the case of one that were out of his wits,
and who never conceived in his heart and mind that nature is
the most sacred and holy thing in the world.

And here, in this place, I cannot choose but call to mind how
at Rome upon a time I took upon me to be umpire between two
brethren, of whom the one seemed to make profession of
philosophy; but he was (as after it appeared) not only untruly
entituled by the name of a brother, but also as falsely called a
philosopher: for when I requested of him that he should carry
himself as a philosopher toward his brother, and such a brother
as altogether was unlettered and ignorant: In that you say
(ignorant quoth he) I hold well with you, and I avow it a truth ;
but as for brother, I take it for no such great and venerable
matter to have sprung from the same loins, or to have come
forth of one womb. Well (said I again), it appears that you
make no great account to issue out of the same natural members ;
but all men else besides you, if they do not think and imagine
so in their hearts, yet I am sure they do both sing and say that
nature first, and then law (which doth preserve and maintain
nature), have given the chief place of reverence and honour
next after the gods unto father and mother; neither can men
perform any service more acceptable unto the gods than to pay
willingly, readily, and affectionately unto parents who begat
and brought them forth, unto nurses and fosters that reared
them up, the interest and usury for the old thanks, besides the
new which are due unto them.

And on the other side again, there is not a more certain sign
and mark of a very atheist, than either to neglect parents, or
to be any ways ungracious or defective in duty unto them : and
therefore, whereas we are forbidden in express terms by the law

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 2 1 3

to do wrong or hurt unto other men: if one do not behave
himself to father and mother both in word and deed, so as they
may have (I do not say no discontentment and displeasure, but)
joy and comfort thereby, men esteem him to be profane, godless,
and irreligious. Tell me now, what action, what grace, what
disposition of children towards their parents, can be more
agreeable and yield them greater contentment than to see good-
will, kind affection, fast and assured love between brethren? the
which a man may easily gather by the contrary in other smaller
matters. For seeing that fathers and mothers be displeased
otherwhiles with their sons, if they misuse or hardly intreat some
home-bom slave whom they set much store by: if, I say, they
be vexed and angry when they see them to make no reckoning
and care of their woods and grounds wherein they took some
joy and delight; considering also that the good, kind-hearted
old folk of a gentle and loving affection that they have, be
offended if some hound or dog bred up within house, or an horse,
be not well tended and looked unto; last of all, if they grieve
when they perceive their children to mock, find fault with, or
despise the lectures, narrations, sports, sights, wrestlers, and
others that exercise feats of activity, which themselves sometime
highly esteemed: Is there any likelihood that they in any
measure can endure to see their children hate one another? to
entertain brawls and quarrels continually? to be ever snarling,
railing and reviling one another? and in all enterprises and
actions always crossing, thwarting and supplanting one another?
I suppose there is no man will so say.

Then on the contrary side, if brethren love together and be
ready one to do for another; if they draw in one line and carry
the like affection with them; follow the same studies and take
the same courses; and how much nature hath divided and
separated them in body, so much to join for it again in mind;
lending one another their helping hands in all their negotiations
ind affairs; following the same exercises; repairing to the
same disputations ; and frequenting the same plays, games, and
oastimes, so as they agree and communicate in all things:
certainly this great love and amity among brethren must needs
/ield sweet joy and happy comfort to their father and mother
n their old age: and therefore parents take nothing so much
jleasure when their children prove eloquent orators, wealthy
nen, or advanced to promotions and high places of dignities;
IS loving and kind one to another; like as a man shall never
ee a father so desirous of eloquence, of riches, or of honour.

214 Plutarch's Morals

as he is loving to his own children. It is reported of Queen
ApoUonis the Cyzicen, mother to King Eumenes and to three
other princes, to wit, Attains, Philetaerus, and Athenaeus, that
she reputed and reported herself to be right happy, and rendered
thanks unto the immortal gods, not for her riches nor royal
port and majesty; but that it was her good fortune to see those
three younger sons of hers serving as pensioners and esquires of
the body to Eumenes their elder brother, and himself living
fearless and in as security in the midst of them, standing about
his person with their pollaxes, halberds, and partisans in their
hands, and girded with swords by their sides. On the other
side. King Xerxes, perceiving that his son Ochus set an ambush
and laid trains to murder his brethren, died for very sorrow and
anguish of heart. Terrible and grievous are the wars, said
Euripides, between brethren; but unto their parents above all
others most grievous; for that whosoever hateth his own
brother, and may not vouchsafe him a good eye and kind look,
cannot choose but in his heart blame the father that begat him,
and the mother that bare him.

We read that Pisistratus married his second wife when his sons
whom he had by the former were now men grown, saying: That
since he saw them prove so good and towardly, he gladly would
be the father of many more that might grow up like them ; even
so, good and loyal children will not only affect and love one
another for their parents' sakes, but also love their parents so
much the more, in regard of their mutual kindness, as making
this account, thinking also and saying thus to themselves;
That they are obliged and bounden unto them in many respects,
but principally for their brethren, as being the most precious
heritage, the sweetest and most pleasant possession that they
inherit by them. And therefore Homer did very well when he
brought in Telemachus among other calamities of his, reckoning
this for one, that he had no brother at all; and saying thus:

For Jupiter my father's race in me alone
Now ended hath, and given me brother none.

As for Hesiodus, he did not well to wish and give advice to have
an only begotten son, to be the full heir and universal inheritor
of a patrimony; even that Hesiodus who was the disciple of
those Muses whom men have named fiova-as, as it were ofiov ovcras,
for that by reason of their mutual affection and sister-like love
they keep always together. Certes, the amity of brethren is so
respective to parents, that it is both a certain demonstration

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 2 1 5

that they love father and mother, and also such an example
and lesson unto their children to love together, as there is none
other like unto it, but contrariwise, they take an ill precedent
to hate their own brethren from the first original of their father:
for he that liveth continually and waxeth old in suits of law,
in quarrels and dissensions with his own brethren, and afterward
shall seem to preach unto his children for to live friendly and
lovingly together, doth as much as he who according to the
common proverb:

The sores of others will seem to heal and cure,
And is himself of ulcers full impure ;

and so by his own deeds doth weaken the efficacy of his words.
If then Eteocles the Theban, when he had once said unto his
brother Polynices, in Euripides :

To stars about sun-rising would I mount,
And under earth descend as far again,
By these attempts, if I might make account
This sovereign royalty of gods to gain,

should come afterwards again unto his sons and admonish

them:

For to maintain and honour equal state.
Which knits friends ay in perfect unity.
And keeps those link'd who are confederate.
Preserving cities in league and amity:
For nothing more procures security.
In all the world, than doth equality,

who would not mock him and despise his admonition? And
what kind of man would Atreus have been reputed, if after he
bad set such a supper as he did before his brother, he should in
this manner have spoken sentences and given instruction to his
3wn children?

When great mishap and cross calamity "11

Upon a man is fallen suddenly.

The only meed is found by amity

Of those whom blood hath joined perfectly.

Banish therefore we must, and rid away clean, all hatred from
imong brethren, as a thing which is a bad nurse to parents in
heir old age, and a worse fostress to children in their youth;
)esides, it giveth occasion of slander, calumniation and obloquy
imong their fellow-citizens and neighbours, for thus do men
onceive and deem of it: That brethren having been nourished
jid brought up together so familiarly from their very cradle,

2i6 Plutarch*s Morals

it cannot be that they should fall out and grow to such terms
of enmity and hostility, unless they were privy one to another
of some wicked plots and most mischievous practices. For
great causes they must be that are able to undo great friendship
and amity, by means whereof hardly or unneth afterwards they
can be reconciled and surely knit again. For like as sundry
pieces which have been once artificially joined together by the
means of glue or solder, if the joint be loose or open, may be
rejoined or soldered again; but if an entire body that naturally
is united and grown in one, chance to be broken or cut and slit
asunder, it will be an hard piece of work to find any glue or
solder so strong as to reunite the same and make it whole and
sound, even so those mutual amities which either for profit or
upon some need were first knit between men, happen to cleave
and part in twain, it is an easy matter to reduce them close
together; but brethren if they be once alienated and estranged,
so as that the natural bond of love cannot hold them together,
hardly will they piece again or agree ever after: and say they
be made friends and brought to atonement, certainly such
reconciliation maketh in the former rent or breach an ill-
favoured and filthy scar, as being always full of jealousy,
distrust, and suspicion.

True it is that all jars and enmities between man and man,
entering into the heart, together with those passions which be
most troublesome and dangerous of all others, to wit, a peevish
humour of contention, choler, envy, and remembrance of injuries
done and past, do breed grief, pain, and vexation; but surely
that which is fallen between brother and brother, who of
necessity are to communicate together in all sacrifices and
religious ceremonies belonging to their father's house, who are
to be interred another day in one and the same sepulchre, and
live in the meantime otherwhiles under one roof, and dwell in
the same house, and enjoy possessions, lands, and tenements
confining one upon another, doth continually present unto the
eye that which tormenteth the heart, it putteth them in mind
daily and hourly of their folly and madness; for by means
thereof that face and countenance which should be most sweet,
best known, and of all other likest, is become most strange,
hideous and unpleasant to the eye ; that voice which was wont
to be even from the cradle friendly and familiar, is now become
most fearful and terrible to the ear; and whereas they see
many other brethren cohabit together in one house, sit at one
table to take their repast, occupy the same lands, and use the

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 217

same servants, without dividing them; what a grief is it that
they, thus fallen out, should part their friends, their hosts and
guests, and in one word, make all things that be common among
other brethren, private, and whatsoever should be familiar and
acceptable, to become contrary and odious? Over and besides,
here is another inconvenience and mischief which there is no
man so simple but he must needs conceive and understand:
That ordinary friends and table companions may be gotten and
stolen (as it were) from others ; alliance and acquaintance there
may be had new, if the former be lost, even as armour, weapons
and tools may be repaired if they be worn, or new made if the
first be gone; but to recover a brother that is lost, it is not
possible, no more than to make a new hand, if one be cut away,
or to set in another eye in the place of that which is plucked out
of the head: and therefore well said that Persian lady, when
she chose rather to save the life of her brethren than of her
children : For children (quoth she) I may have more, but since
my father and mother be both dead, brother shall I never have.
But what is to be done, will some man say, in case one be
matched with a bad brother? First, this we ought evermore
to remember, that in all sorts of amities there is to be found
some badness ; and most true is that saying of Sophocles :

Who list to search throughout mankind.
More bad than good is sure to find.

No kindred there is, no society, no fellowship, no amity and
love, that can be found sincere, sound, pure, and clear from all
faults. The Lacedaemonian who had married a wife of little
5tature: We must (quoth he) of evils chuse ever the least;
jven so in mine advice a man may very well and wisely give
counsel unto brethren, to bear rather with the most domestical
mperfections and the infirmities of their own blood, than to try
-hose of strangers; for as the one is blameless because it is
lecessary, so the other is blameworthy, for that it is voluntary:
or neither table-friend and fellow-gamester, nor play-fere of the
ame age, nor yet host or guest,

Is bound with links (of brass by hand not wrought)
Which shame by kind hath forg'd, and cost us nought,

mt rather that friend who is of the same blood, who had his
lourishment and bringing up with us, begotten of one father,
nd who lay in the same mother's womb; unto whom it seemeth
hat Virtue ^ herself doth allow connivancy and pardon of some
* i.e., Minerva, Odyssey, v. 331.

21 8 Plutarch's Morals

faults, so as a man may say unto a brother when he doth a
fault:

Witless, stark naught, yea, wretched though thou be,

Yet can I not forsake and cast off thee,

lest that (ere I be well aware) I might seem in my hatred towards
thee for to punish sharply, cruelly and unnaturally in thy person
some infirmity or vice of mine own father or mother instilled
into thee by their seed. As for strangers and such as are not of
our blood, we ought not to love first, and afterwards make trial
and judgment of them; but first we must try and then trust
and love them afterwards; whereas contrariwise, nature hath
not given unto proof and experience the precedence and pre-
rogative to go before love, neither doth she expect according to
that common proverb; That a man should eat a bushel ^ or
two of salt with one whom he minded to love and make his
friend ; but even from our nativity hath bred in us and with us
the very principle and cause of amity, in which regard we ought
not to be bitter unto such, nor to search too nearly into their
faults and infirmities.

But what will you say now if contrariwise some there be, who
if mere aliens and strangers otherwise, yet if they take a foolish
love and liking unto them, either at the tavern or at some game
and pastime, or fall acquainted with them at the wrestling or
fencing school, can be content to wink at their faults, be ready
to excuse and justify them, yea, and take delight and pleasure
therein; but if their brethren do amiss, they be exceeding
rigorous unto them and inexorable; nay, you shall have many
such, who can abide to love churlish dogs and skittish horses,
yea, and find in their hearts to feed and make much of fell
ounces, shrewd cats, curst unhappy apes, and terrible lions ; but
they cannot endure the hasty and choleric humour, the error
and ignorance, or some little ambitious humour of a brother.
Others again there be who unto their concubines and harlots
will not stick to assign over and pass away goodly houses and
fair lands lying thereto; but with their brethren they will
wrangle and go to law, nay, they will be ready to enter the lists
and combat for a plot of ground whereupon a house standeth,
about some comer of a messuage or end of a little tenement and
afterwards attributing unto this their hatred of brethren the
colourable name of hating sin and wickedness, they go up and
down cursing, detesting, and reproaching them for their vices,

' ^ Medimnus is a measure containing six modii, which is about six pecks
with us.

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 2 1 9

whiles in others they are never oflfended nor discontented there-
with, but are willing enough daily to frequent and haunt their
company. Thus much in general terms by way of preamble or
proem of this whole treatise.

It remaineth now that I should enter into the doctrine and

instructions thereto belonging: wherein I will not begin as

other have done at the partition of their heritage or patrimony;

but at the naughty emulation, heart-burning and jealousy which

ariseth between them during the life of their parents. Agesilaus,

King of Lacedaemon, was wont always to send as a present unto

each one of the ancients of the city, ever as they were created

senators, a good ox, in testimony that he honoured their virtue:

at length the lords, called Ephori, who were the censurers and

overseers of each man's behaviour, condemned him for this in

a fine to be paid unto the state, subscribing and adding a reason

withal; for that by these gifts and largesses he went about to

steal away their hearts and favours to himself alone, which

ought indifferently to regard the whole body of the city; even

so a man may do well to give this counsel unto a son, in such

wise to respect and honour his father and mother, that he seek

not thereby to gain their whole love, nor seem to turn away

their favour and affection from other children wholly unto

himself; by which practice many do prevent, undermine, and

supplant their brethren, and thus under a colourable and honest

pretence in shew, but in deed unjust and unequal, cloak and

cover their avarice and covetous desire ; for after a cautelous and

subtle manner they insinuate themselves and get between them

md home, and so defraud and cozen them ungentlemanly of

their parents' love, which is the greatest and fairest portion of

:heir inheritance, who espying their time, and taking the oppor-

;unity and vantage when their brethren be otherwise employed,

ind least doubt of their practices, then they bestir them most,

md shew themselves in best order, obsequious, double-diligent,

;ober and modest, and namely in such things as their other

)rethren do either fail or seem to be slack and forgetful. But

)rethren ought to do clean contrary, for if they perceive their

ather to be angry and displeased with one of them, they should

nterpose themselves and undergo some part of the heavy load,

hey ought to ease their brother, and by bearing a part, help to

nake the burden lighter: then (I say) must they by their service

jid ministry gratify their brother so much as to bring him in

ome sort in grace and favour again with their father, and when

'. e hath failed so far forth in neglecting the opportunity of time,

2 20 Plutarch's Morals

or omitting some other business which hardly will afford excuse,
they are to lay the fault and blame upon his very nature and
disposition, as being more meet and fitted for other matters.
And hereto accordeth well that speech of Agamemnon in Homer:

He faulted not through idleness,

Nor yet for want of wit,
But look'd on me, and did expect

My motive unto it.

Even so one good brother may excuse another and say: He
thought I should have done it, and left this duty for me to do :
neither are fathers themselves strait-laced, but willingly enough
to admit such translations and gentle inversions of names as
these; they can be content to believe their children, when they
term the supine negligence of their brethren plain simplicity,
their stupidity and blockishness, upright dealing and a good
conscience; their quarrelous and litigious nature, a mind loth
to be trodden under foot and utterly despised.

In this manner he that will proceed with an intent only to
appease his father's wrath shall gain thus much moreover;
That not only his father's choler will thereby be much diminished
toward his brother, but his love also much more increased unto
himself: howbeit, afterwards when he hath thus made all well,
and satisfied his father to his good contentment, then must he
turn and address himself to his brother apart, touch him to the
quick, spare him never a whit, but with all liberty of language
tell him roundly of his fault and rebuke him for his trespass;
for surely it is not good to use indulgency and connivancy to a
brother, no more than to insult over him too much, and tread him
under foot if he have done amiss, for as this bewrayeth a joy that
one taketh at his fall, so that implieth a guiltiness with him
in the same transgression: but in this rebuke and reproof such
measure would be kept that it may testify a care to do him good,
and yet a displeasure for his fault; for commonly he that hath
been a most earnest advocate and affectionate intercessor for
him to his father and mother, will be his sharpest accuser after-
wards when he hath him alone by himself. But put the case,
that a brother having not at all offended, be blamed notwith-
standing and accused to father and mother, howsoever in other
things it is the part of humanity and dutiful kindness to sustain
and bear all anger and froward displeasure of parents; yet in
this case the allegations and defences of one brother in the
justification of another, when he is innocent, unjustly traduced,
and hardly used or wronged by his parents, are not to be blamed,

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 221

but allowable and grounded upon honesty: neither need a
brother fear to hear that reproach in Sophocles:

Thou graceless imp, so far grown out of kind,
As with thy sire a counter plea to find,

when frankly and freely he speaketh in the behalf of his brother,
seeming to be unjustly condemned and oppressed. For surely
by this manner of process and pleading, they that are convicted
take more joy in being overthrown than if they had gained the
victory and better hand.

Now after that a father is deceased, it is well beseeming and
fit that brethren should more affectionately love than before,
and stick more close together: for then presently their natural
love unto their father which is common to them all ought to
ippear indifferently in mourning together and lamenting for
lis death: then are they to reject and cast behind them all
mspicions surmised or buzzed into their heads by varlets and
jervants, all slanderous calumniations and false reports, brought
into them by pick-thanks and carry-tales on both sides, who
vould gladly sow some dissension between them : then are they
:o give ear unto that which fables do report of the reciprocal
ove of Castor and Pollux; and namely, how it is said, that
'oUux killed one with his fist for rounding him in the ear, and
vhispering a tale against his brother Castor. Afterwards, when
hey shall come to the parting of their patrimony and father's
I 'oods among them, they ought not (as it were) to give defiance
i ,nd denounce war one against another, as many there be who
( ome prepared for that purpose ready to encounter, singing this
] -ote :

O Alal' Alala, now hearken and come fight.
Who art of war so fell, the daughter right.

J »ut that very day of all others they ought to regard and observe
1 lost, as being the time which to them is the beginning either of
Mortal war and enmity irreconcileable, or else of perfect friend-
s lip and amity perdurable : at which instant they ought among
t lemselves alone to divide their portions, if it be possible; if
I ot, then to do it in the presence of one indifferent and common
f lend between them, who may be a witness to their whole order
8 id proceeding; and so, when after a loving and kind manner,
8 id as becometh honest and well-disposed persons, they have
I: y casting lots gotten each one that which is his right: by
V hich course (as Plato said) they ought to think that there is
g ven and received that which is meet and agreeable for every

222 Plutarch's Morals

one, and so to hold themselves therewith contented : this done,
I say they are to make account that the ordering, managing,
and administration only of the goods and heritage is parted and
divided; but the enjoying, use, and possession of all remaineth
yet whole in common between them. But those that in this
partition and distribution of goods pluck one from another the
nurses that gave them suck, or such youths as were fostered
and brought up together with them of infants, and with whom
always they had lived and loved familiarly; well may they
prevail so far forth with eager pursuing their wilfulness, as to go
away with the gain of a slave, perhaps of greater price: but
instead thereof they lose the greatest and most precious things
in all their patrimony and inheritance, and utterly betray the
love of a brother, and the confidence that otherwise they might
have had in him. Some also we have known, who upon a
peevish wilfulness only, and a quarrelous humour, and without
any gain at all, have in the partition of their father's goods
carried themselves no better nor with greater modesty and
respect, than if it had been some booty or pillage gotten in war.
Such were Charicles and Antiochus, of the city Opus, two
brethren, who ever as they met with a piece of silver plate,
made no more ado but cut it quite through the midst, and if
there came a garment into their hands, in two pieces it went,
slit (as near as they could aim) just in the middle, and so they
went either of them away with his part, dividing (as it were)
upon some tragical curse and execration

Their house and all the goods therein
By edge of sword so sharp and keen.

Others there be who make their boast and report with joy unto
others, how in the partition of their patrimony they have by
cunning casts coney-catched their brethren, and over-wrought
them so by their cautelous circumvention, fine wit and sly
policies, as that they have gone away with the better part by
odds: whereas indeed they should rejoice rather and please
themselves, if in modesty, courtesy, kindness, and yielding of
their own right they had surpassed and gone beyond their
brethren. In which regard Athenodorus deserveth to be remem-
bered in this place; and indeed there is not one here in these
parts but remembereth him well enough. This Athenodorus
had one brother elder than himself, named Zenon, who having
taken upon him the management of the patrimony left unto
them both by their father, had embezzled and made away a

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 223

good part of it; and in the end, for that by force he had carried
away a woman and married her, was condemned for a rape, and
lost all his own and his brother's goods, which by order of law
was forfeit and confiscate to the exchequer of the emperor : now
was Athenodorus abovesaid a very beardless boy still, without
any hair on his face; and when by equity and the court of
conscience, his portion out of his father's goods was awarded
and restored unto him, he forsook not his brother, but brought
all abroad and parted the one half thereof with him again ; and
notwithstanding that he knew well enough that his brother had
used no fair play, but cunningly defrauded him of much in the
division thereof, yet was he never angry with him nor repented
of his kindness, but mildly, cheerfully, and patiently endured
that unthankfulness and folly of his brother, so much divulged
and talked of throughout all Greece.

As for Solon, when he pronounced sentence and determined
in this manner as touching the government of the weal-public;
That equality never bred sedition; seemed very confusedly to
bring in the proportion arithmetical which is popular, in place
of that other fair and good proportion called geometrical. But
he that in an house or family would advise brethren (as Plato did
the citizens of his commonwealth), above all, if possible it were
to take away these words, mine and thine ; mine and not mine ;
or at leastwise (if that may not be) to stand contented with an
equal portion, and to maintain and preserve equality; certes,
le should lay a notable and singular foundation of amity, con-
cord and peace, and always build thereupon the famous examples
)f most noble and renowned personages, such as Pittachus
vas, who when the King of Lydia demanded of him whether
le had money and goods enough? I may have (quoth he) more
)y one half if I would, by occasion of my brother's death, whose
leir I am.

But forasmuch as not only in the possession, augmentation
i nd diminishing of goods, the less is evermore set as an adverse
! nd cross enemy to the more, but also (as Plato said) simply
J nd universally there is always motion and stirring in un-
« quality, but rest and repose in equality; and so all uneven
( ealing and unequal partition is dangerous for breeding dis-
i jnsion among brethren : and unpossible it is that in all respects
t ley should be even and equal; for that either nature at first
f om their very nativity, or fortune afterwards, hath not
c ivided with even hand their several graces and favours among
1 lem, whereupon proceed envy and jealousy, which are per-

224 Plutarch's Morals

nicious maladies and deadly plagues, as well to houses and
families as also to states and cities: in these regards (I say),
therefore, a great regard and heed would be taken, both to
prevent and also to remedy such mischiefs with all speed, when
they begin first to ingender.

As for him who is indued with better gifts, and hath the
vantage over his other brethren, it were not amiss to give him
counsel, first to communicate unto them those gifts wherein he
seemeth to excel and go beyond them ; namely, in gracing and
honouring them as well as himself by his credit and reputation,
in advancing them by the means of his great friends, and
drawing them unto their acquaintance ; and in case he be more
eloquent than they, to offer them the use thereof, which although
it be employed (as it were) in common, is yet nevertheless his
own still : then let him not shew any sign of pride and arrogancy,
as though he disdained them, but rather in some measure by
abasing, submitting and yielding a little to them in his behaviour,
to preserve himself from envy, unto which his excellent parts
do lie open; and in one word, to reduce that inequality which
fortune hath made, unto some equality, as far forth as possible
it is to do, by the moderate carriage of his mind. LucuUus
verily would never deign to accept of any dignity or place of
rule before his brother, notwithstanding he was his elder, but
letting his own time slip, expected the turn and course of his
brother. Neither would Pollux take upon him to be a god alone
by himself, but chose rather with his brother Castor to be a
demi-god, and for to communicate unto him his own im-
mortality, thought it no disgrace to participate with his mortal
condition ; and even so may a man say unto one whom he would
admonish: My good friend, it lies in you without diminishing
one whit of those good things which you have at this present, to
make your brother equal unto yourself, and to join him in
honour with you, giving him leave to enjoy (as it were) your
greatness, your glory, your virtue, and your fortune; like as
Plato did in times past, who by putting down in writing the name
of his brethren, and bringing them in as persons speaking in his
most noble and excellent treatises, caused them by that means
to be famous and renowned in the world. Thus he graced
Glaucus and Adamantus in his books of policy: thus he honoured
Antiphon, the youngest of them all, in his dialogue named
Parmenides.

Moreover, as it is an ordinary thing to observe great difference
and odds in the natures and fortunes of brethren; so it is in

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 225

manner impossible, that in all things and in every respect any
Dne of them should excel the rest. For true it is, that the four
elements, which they say were created of one and the same
matter, have powers and qualities altogether contrary; but
surely it was never yet seen that of two brethren by one father
ind mother, the one should be like unto that wise man whom
the Stoics do feign and imagine, to wit, fair, lovely, bountiful,
honourable, rich, eloquent, studious, civil, and courteous; and
the other, foul, ill-favoured, contemptible, illiberal, needy, not
ible to speak and deliver his mind, untaught, ignorant, uncivil
ind unsociable. But even in those that are more obscure, base,
ind abject than others there is after a sort some spark of grace,
jf valour, of aptness and inclination to one good thing or other:
tor as the common proverb goeth:

With calthrap thistles, rough and keen, with prickyxest-harow,
Close Sions fair and soft, yea, white-wallflowers are seen to grow.

These good parts, therefore, be they more or less in others, if he

;hat seemeth to have them in far better and in greater measure,

io not debase, smother, hide, and hinder them, nor deject his

DTOther (as in some solemnity of games for the prize) from all

Jae principal honours, but rather yield reciprocally unto him in

)Ome points, and acknowledge openly that in many things he is

nore excellent, and hath a greater dexterity than himself, with-

irawing always closely all occasions and matter of envy, as it

Arere fuel from the fire, shall either quench all debate, or rather

lot suffer it at all to breed or grow to any head and substance.

Now he that always taketh his brother as a colleague,

counsellor, and coadjutor with him, in those causes wherein

limself is taken to be his superior: as, for example, if he be

I professed rhetorician and orator, using his brother to plead

causes; if he be a politician, asking his advice in government;

f a man greatly friended, employing him in actions and affairs

ibroad; and in one word, in no matter of consequence and

Afhich may win credit and reputation, leaving not his brother

)ut, but making him his fellow and companion in all great and

honourable occasions, and so giving out of him, taking his

counsel if he be present, and expecting his presence if he be

vbsent, and generally making it known that he is a man not of

ess execution than himself, but one rather that loveth not much

;o put himself forth, nor stands so much upon winning reputa-

;ion in the world, and seeking to be advanced in credit; by this

neans he shall lose nothing of his own, but gain much unto his

H

226 Plutarch's Morals

brother. These be the precepts and advertisements that a man
may give unto him that is the better and superior.

To come now to him who is the inferior, he ought thus to think
in his mind: That his brother is not one alone that hath no
fellow, nor the only man in the world who is richer, better
learned, or more renowned and glorious than himself, but that
oftentimes he also is inferior to a great number, yea, and to
many miUions of us men.

Who on the earth so large do breed,
Upon her fruits who live and feed.

but if he be such an one as either goeth up and down, bearing
envy unto all the world; or if he be of so ill a nature, as that
among so many men that are fortunate, he alone and none but
he troubleth him, who ought of all other to be dearest and is
most nearly joined unto him by the obligation of blood, a man
may well say of him; That he is unhappy in the highest degree,
and hath not left unto another man living any means to go
beyond him in wretchedness. As Metellus therefore thought
that the Romans were bound to render thanks unto the gods
in heaven, for that Scipio, so noble and brave a man, was bom
in Rome and not in any other city; so every man is to wish and
pray unto the gods, that himself may surmount all other men
in prosperity, if not, yet that he might have a brother at leastwise
to attain unto that power and authority so much desired ; but
some there be so unfortunate and unlucky by nature, in respect
of any goodness in them, that they can rejoice and take a great
glory in this, to have their friends advanced unto high places
of honour, or to see their hosts and guests abroad, princes, rulers,
rich and mighty men, but the resplendent glory of their brethren
they think doth eclipse and darken their own renown; they
delight and joy to hear the fortunate exploits of their fathers
recounted, or how their great grandsires long ago had the conduct
of armies, and were lord praetors and generals in the field,
wherein they themselves had never any part, nor received
thereby either honour or profit; but if there have fallen unto
their brethren any great heritages or possessions, if they have
risen unto high estate and achieved honourable dignities, if they
are advanced by rich and noble marriages, then they are cast
down and their hearts be done. And yet it had behoved and
right meet it were in the first place, to be envious to no man at
all; but if that may not be, the next way were to turn their envy
outward, and eye-bite strangers, and to shew our spite unto

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 227

aliens who are abroad, after the manner of those who to rid
themselves from civil seditions at home, turn the same upon
their enemies without, and set them together by the ears, and
like as Diomedes in Homer said unto Glaucus:

Of Trojans and their allies both,

Who aid them for goodwill
Right many are beside yourself

For me in fight to kill:
And you likewise have Greeks enough

With whom in bloody field
You may your prowess try, and not

Meet me with spear and shield.

Even so it may be said unto them; There be a number besides

of concurrents upon whom they may exercise their envy and

jealousy, and not with their natural brethren; for a brother

ought not to be like unto one of the balance scales, which doth

always contrary unto his fellow, for as one riseth the other

falleth; but as small numbers do multiply the greater and serve

to make both them bigger, and their selves too; even so, an

inferior brother by multiplying the state of his brother who is

his superior, shall both augment him and also increase and

grow himself together with him in all good things: mark the

fingers of your hand, that which holdeth not the pen in writing,

or striketh the string of a lute in playing (for that it is not able

so to do, nor disposed and made naturally for those uses), is

never a whit the worse for all that, nor serveth less otherwise,

but they all stir and move together, yea and in some sort they

help one another in their actions, as being framed for the nonce,

jnequal and one bigger and longer than other, that by their

opposition and meeting as it were round together, they might

comprehend, clasp, and hold anything most sure, strong, and fast.

Thus Craterus, being the natural brother of King Antigonus,

vho reigned and swayed the sceptre: Thus Perilaus also, the

Drother of Cassander, who ware the crown, gave their minds to

De brave warriors and to lead armies under their brethren, or

ilse applied themselves to govern their houses at home in their

ibsence; whereas on the contrary side, the Antiochi and

^eleuci, as also certain Grypi and Cyziceni and such others,

laving not learned to bear a lower sail than their brethren,

ind who could not content themselves to sing a lower note, nor

0 rest in a second place, but aspiring to the ensigns and oma-

nents of royal dignity, to wit, the purple mantle of estate with

Town, diadem, and sceptre, filled themselves and one another

vith many calamities, yea and heaped as many troubles upon

.11 Asia throughout.

228 Plutarch's Morals

Now forasmuch as those especially who by nature are
ambitious and disposed to thirst after glory, be for the most
part envious and jealous toward those who are more honoured
and renowned than they ; it were very expedient for brethren if
they would avoid this inconvenience, not to seek for to attain
either honour or authority and credit all by the same means,
but some by one thing and some by another: for we see by
daily experience, it is an ordinary matter that wild beasts do
fight and war one with another, namely, when they feed in one
and the same pasture; and among champions and such as
strive for the mastery in feats of activity, we count those for
their adversaries and concurrents only who profess and practise
the same kind of game or exercise ; for those that go to it with
fists and buffets are commonly friends good enough to such
sword-fencers as fight at sharp to the utterance, and well-willers
to the champions called Pancratiastae : likewise the runners in
a race agree full well with wrestlers : these, I say, are ready to
aid, assist and favour one another, which is the reason that of
the two sons of Tyndarus, Pollux won the prize always at
buffets, but Castor, his brother, went away with the victory in
the race. And Homer very well in his poem feigned that
Teucer was an excellent archer, and became famous thereby,
but his brother Ajax was best at close fight and hand-strokes,
standing to it heavily armed at all pieces:

And with his shield so bright and wide
His brother Teucer he did hide.

And thus it is with them that govern a state and commonweal;
those that be men of arms and manage martial affairs never
lightly do envy them much who deal in civil causes and use to
make speeches unto the people; likewise among those that
profess rhetoric and eloquence, advocates who plead at bar,
never fall out with those sophisters that read lectures of oratory;
among professors of physic, they that cure by diet envy not the
chirurgeons who work by hand; whereas they who endeavour
and seek to win credit and estimation by the same art, or by
their faculty and sufficiency in any one thing, do as much
(especially if they be badly minded withal) as those rivals who,
loving one mistress, would be better welcome and find more
grace and favour at her hands one than another.

True it is, I must needs confess, that they who go divers
ways do no good one to another; but surely such as choose
sundry courses of life do not only avoid the occasions of envy.

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 229

but also by that means the rather have mutual help one by the

other: thus Demosthenes and Chares sorted well together;

^schines likewise and Eubulus accorded; Hyperides also and

Leosthenes were lovers and friends; in every which couple the

former employed themselves in pleading and speaking before

the people, and were writers and pen-men, whereas the other

conducted armies, were warriors and men of action. Brethren

therefore who cannot communicate in glory and credit together

without envy, ought to set their desires and ambitious minds as

far remote one from another, and turn them full as contrary as

they can, if they would find comfort, and not receive displeasure

by the prosperity and happy success one of another: but above

all, a principal care and regard they must have of their kindred

and alliance, yea, and otherwhiles of their very wives, and

aamely, when they be ready with their perilous speeches many

times to blow more coals, and thereby enkindle their ambitious

lumour. Your brother (quoth one) doth wonders; he carrieth

ill before him; he beareth the sway; no talk there is but of

lim; he is admired, and every man maketh court to him:

whereas there is no resort to you ; no man cometh toward you ;

lothing is there in you that men regard or set by. When these

;uggestions shall be thus whispered, a brother that is wise and

veil minded may well say thus again: I have a brother indeed

vhose name is up and carrieth a great side; and verily the

greater part of his credit and authority is mine and at my

commandment. For Socrates was wont to say, that he would

;hoose rather to have Darius his friend, than his darics,^

And a brother who is of sound and good judgment will think

hat he hath no less benefit when his brother is placed in great

state of government, blessed with rickes, or advanced to credit

,nd reputation by his gift of eloquence, than if himself were

. ruler, wealthy, learned, and eloquent. Thus you may see the

)est and readiest means that are to qualify and mitigate this

"inequality between brethren.

Now there be other disagreements besides, that grow quickly

•etween, especially if they want good bringing up and are not

■ rell taught, and namely, in regard of their age. For commonly

he elder, who think that by good right they ought to have the

< ommand, rule, and government of their younger brethren in

< verything, and who held it great reason that they should be
] onoured, and have power and authority always above them,

* An ancient piece of coin with his image, worth two shillings four
I ence, or a tetradrachm Attic.

2^6 Plutarch's Morals

commonly do use them hardly and are nothing kind and light-
some unto them : the younger again being stubborn, wilful and
unruly, ready also to shake off the bridle, are wont to make no
reckoning of their elder brethren's prerogative, but set them at
naught and despise them; whereby it cometh to pass that as
the younger of one side envied, are held down with envy, and
kept under always by their elder brethren, and so shun their
rebukes and scorn their admonitions; so these, on the other
side, desirous to hold their own and maintain their pre-eminence
and sovereignty over them, stand always in dread lest their
younger brethren should grow too much, as if the rising of them
were their fall. But like as the case standeth in a benefit or
good turn that is done, men say it is meet that the receiver
should esteem the thing greater than it is, and the giver make
the least of it; even so, he that can persuade the elder, that the
time whereby he hath the vantage of his other brethren is no
great thing; and likewise the younger, that he should reckon
the same birthright for no small matter, he shall do a good deed
between them, in delivering the one from disdain, contempt,
iand suspicion, and the other from irreverence and negligence.

Now forasmuch as it is meet that the elder should take care
and charge, teach, and instruct, admonish and reprove the
younger; and as fit likewise the younger should honour, imitate,
and follow the elder: I could wish that the solicitude and care
of the elder savoured rather of a companion and fellow than of
a father; that himself also would seem not so much to command
as to persuade, and to be more prompt and ready to joy for his
younger brother's well-doing, and to praise him for it, than in
any wise take pleasure in reprehending and blaming him if
haply he have forgotten his duty; and in one word, to do the
one not only more willingly, but also with greater humanity than
the other. Moreover, the zeal and emulation in the younger
ought rather to be of the nature of an imitation, than either
of jealousy or contention; for that imitation presupposeth
an opinion of admiration, whereas jealousy and contention
implieth envy, which is the reason that they affect and love
those who endeavour to resemble and be like unto them; but
contrariwise, they are offended at those and keep them down
who strive to be their equals.

Now among many honours, which it beseemeth the younger
to render unto his elder, obedience is that which deserveth most
commendation, and worketh a more assured and hearty affection
accompanied with a certain reverence, which causeth the elder

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 231

reciprocally and by way of requital to yield the like and to give
place unto him. Thus Cato, having from his infancy honoured
and reverenced his elder brother Csepion, by all manner of
Dbeisance and silence before him; in the end gained thus much
by it, that when they were both men grown, he had so won
tiim and filled him (as it were) with so great a respect and
reverence of him, that he would neither say nor do ought without
lis privity and knowledge. For it is reported that when Csepion
lad one day signed and sealed with his own signet a certain
etter testimonial, Cato his brother coming afterwards would
lot set to his seal; which, when Caepion understood, he called
'or the foresaid testimonial and pluckt away his own seal,
jefore he had once demanded for what occasion his brother
vould not believe the deed, but suspected his testimony? It
leemeth likewise that the brethren of Epicurus shewed great
•aspect and reverence unto him, in regard of the love and careful
jjoodwill that he bare unto them; which appeared in this, that
; IS to all other things else of his, so to his philosophy especially,

hey were so wedded, as if they had been inspired therewith.
;''or albeit they were seduced and deceived in their opinion,
I giving out and holding always (as they did) from their infancy,

hat never was any man so deep a clerk nor so great a philosopher
i 5 their brother Epicurus: yet it is wonderful to consider as well
liim that could so frame and dispose them, as themselves also
ioT being so disposed and affectionate unto him. And verily,
( ven among the more modem philosophers of later time,
.. \.pollonius the Peripatetic, had convinced him of untruth
( whosoever he was) that said lordship and glory could like no
i jUowship, for he made his brother Sotion more famous and
1 unowned than himself. For mine own part, to say somewhat
( f myself; albeit that fortune hath done me many favours, in
1 3gard whereof I am bound to render unto her much thanks ;
t lere is not any one for which I take myself so much obliged
£ ad beholden unto her, as for the love that my brother Timon
I ath always shewed and doth yet shew unto me ; a thing that
r 3 man is able to deny who hath never so little been in our
c impany, and you least of all others may doubt who have
c mversed so familiarly with us.

Now there be other occasions of trouble which ought to be
t -ken heed of among those brethren which are of like age or
s imewhat near in years; small passions (I wot well) they be,
b It many they are, and those ordinary and continual; by
n eans whereof they bring with them an evil custom of vexing,

232 Plutarch's Morals

fretting and angering one another ever and anon for small
things, which in the end turn into hatred and enmity irrecon-
cilable: for when they have begun to quarrel one with another
at their games and pastimes, about the feeding and fighting of
some little creatures that they keep, to wit, quails or cocks,
and afterwards about the wrestling of their boys and pages at
the school, or the hunting of their hounds in the chase, or the
caparison of their horses; they can no more hold and refrain
(when as they be men) their contentious vein and ambition in
matters of more importance: thus the greatest and mightiest
men among the Greeks in our time, banding at the first one
against another in taking parts with their dancers, and then in
siding with their minstrels, afterwards by comparing one with
another who had the better ponds or bathing pools in the
territory of Edepsus, who had the fairer galleries and walking-
places, the statelier halls and places of pleasure, evermore
changing and exchanging, and fighting (as it were) for the
vantage of a place, striving still by way of odious comparison,
cutting and diverting another way the conduct pipes of fountains,
are become so much exasperate one against another, that in the
meantime they are utterly undone; for the tyrant is come, and
hath taken all from them; banished they are out of their own
native country; they wander as poor vagabonds through the
world, and I may be bold (well near) to say, they are so far
changed from that they were afore, that they be others quite,
this only excepted, that they be the same still in hatred one to
another. Thus it appeareth evidently, that brethren ought not
a little to resist the jealousy and contentions which breed among
them upon small trifles, even in the very beginning, and that
by accustoming themselves to yield and give place reciprocally
one to another, suffering themselves to be overcome and take the
foil, and joying rather to pleasure and content one another,
than to win the better hand one of another: for the victory
which in old time they called the Cadmian victory was nothing
else but that victory between brethren about the city of Thebes,
which is of all other the most wicked and mischievous.

What shall we say moreover? do not the affairs of this life
minister many occasions of disagreement and debate even
among those brethren which are most kind and loving of all
other? yes, verily. But even therein also, we must be careful
to let the said affairs to combat alone by themselves, and not to
put thereto any passion of contention or anger, as an anchor
or hook to catch hold of the parties, and pull them together for

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 233

to quarrel, and enter into debate ; but as it were in a balance,
to look jointly together, on whether side right and equity doth
encline and bend, and so soon as ever we can, to put matters in
question to the arbitrament and judgment of some good and
indifferent persons, to purge and make clear all, before they are
grown so far as that they have gotten a stain or tincture of
cankered malice, which afterwards will never be washed or
scoured out: which done, we are to imitate the Pythagoreans,
who being neither joined in kindred or consanguinity, nor yet
allied by affinity, but the scholars in one school, and the fellows
of one and the same discipline, if peradventure at any time they
were so far carried away with choler, that they fell to inter-
change reproachful and reviling taunts, yet before the sun was
gone down they would shake hands, kiss, and embrace one
another, be reconciled, and become good friends again. For
like as if there be a fever, occasioned by a botch or rising in the
share, there is no danger thereof, but if when the said botch is
gone, the fever still continue, then it seemeth to be a malady
proceeding from some more inward, secret, and deeper cause;
even so the variance between two brethren, when it ceaseth
together with the deciding of a business, we must think de-
pendeth upon the same business and upon nothing else, but if
the difference remain still when the controversy is ended, surely
then it was but a colourable pretence thereof, and there was
within some root of secret malice which caused it.

And here in this place it would serve our purpose very well to

hear the manner of proceeding in the decision of a controversy

between two brethren of a barbarous nation, and the same not

for some little parcel of land, nor about poor slaves or silly

sheep, but for no less than the kingdom of Persia: for after the

death of Darius, some of the Persians would have had Ariamenes

to succeed and wear the crown, as being the eldest son of the

<ing late deceased ; others again stood earnestly for Xerxes, as

; yell for that he had to his mother Atossa, the daughter of that

1 jreat Cyrus, as because he was begotten by Darius when he was

I crowned king. Ariamenes then came down out of Media to

:laim his right; not in arms, as one that minded to make war,

)ut simply and peaceably, attended only with his ordinary train

ind retinue, minding to enter upon the kingdom by justice and

)rder of law. Xerxes in the meanwhile, and before his brother

ame, being present in place, ruled as king and exercised all

hose fvmctions that appertained thereto: his brother was no

ooner arrived but he took willingly the diadem or royal frontlet

2 34 Plutarch's Morals ^

from his head, and the princely chaplet or coronet which the
Persian kings are wont to wear upright, he laid down, and went
toward his brother to meet him upon the way, and with kind
greeting embraced him: he sent also certain presents unto him,
with commandment unto those that carried them to say thus:
Xerxes thy brother honoureth thee now with these presents
here, but if by the sentence and judgment of the peers and lords
of Persia he shall be declared king, his will and pleasure is, that
thou shalt be the second person in the realm and next unto him.
Ariamenes answered the message in this wise : These presents I
receive kindly from my brother, but I am persuaded that the
kingdom of Persia by right belongeth unto me; as for my
brethren, I will reserve that honour which is meet and due unto
them next after myself, and Xerxes shall be the first and chief
of them all. Now when the great day of judgment was at hand
when this weighty matter should be determined, the Persians
by one general and common consent declared Artabanus, the
brother of Darius late departed, to be the umpire and competent
judge for to decide and end this cause. Xerxes was unwilling
to stand unto his award, being but one man, as who reposed
more trust and confidence in the number of the princes and
nobles of the realm; but his mother Atossa reproving him for
it: Tell me (quoth she), my son, wherefore refusest thou
Artabanus to be thy judge, who is your uncle, and besides, the
best man of all the Persians ? and why dost thou fear so much
the issue of his judgment, considering that if thou miss, yet the
second place is most honourable, namely, to be called the king's
brother of Persia? Then Xerxes, persuaded by his mother,
yielded ; and after many allegations brought and pleaded on
both sides judicially, Artabanus at length pronounced definitively
that the kingdom of Persia appertained unto Xerxes : with that
Ariamenes incontinently leapt from his seat, went and did
homage unto his brother, and taking him by the right hand,
enthronised and installed him king: from which time forward
he was always the greatest person next unto his brother; and
shewed himself so loving and affectionate unto him, that in his
quarrel he fought most valiantly in the naval battle before
Salaminas, where in his service and for his honour he lost his
life. This example may serve for an original pattern of true
benevolence and magnanimity, so pure and uncorrupt as it
cannot in any one point be blamed or stained.

As for Antiochus, as a man may reprehend in him his ambitious
mind and excessive desire of rule; so he may as well wonder

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 235

that considering his vain-glorious spirit, all brotherly love was

not in him utterly extinct; for being himself the younger, he

waged war with Seleucus for the crown, and kept his mother

sure enough for to side with him and take his part; now it

happened that during this war and when it was at the hottest,

Seleucus struck a battle with the Galatians, lost the field, and

was himself not to be found, but supposed certainly to have been

slain and cut in pieces, together with his whole army, which

by the barbarians were put to the sword and massacred ; when

news came unto Antiochus of this defeature, he laid away his

purple robes, put on black, caused the court gates to be shut,

and mourned heavily for his brother, as if he had been dead:

but being afterwards advertised that he was alive, safe and

sound, and that he went about to gather new forces and make

head again, he came abroad, sacrificed with thanksgiving unto

the gods, and commanded all those cities and states which were

ander his dominion to keep holiday, to sacrifice and wear chaplets

Df flowers upon their heads in token of public joy. The

.\thenians, when they had devised an absurd and ridiculous

fable as touching the quarrel between Neptune and Minerva,

ntermeddled withal another invention, which soundeth to some

*eason, tending to the correction of the same, and as it were to

nake amends for that absurdity, for they suppress always the

second of August, upon which day happened (by their saying)

;hat debate aforesaid between Neptune and Minerva.

What should let and hinder us likewise, if it chance that we

;nter into any quarrel or debate with our allies and kinsfolk in

)lood, to condenm that day to perpetual oblivion, and to repute

ind reckon it among the cursed and dismal days; but in no

vise by occasion of one such unhappy day to forget so many

)ther good and joyful days wherein we have lived and been

)rought up together; for either it is for nothing and in vain

hat nature hath endued us with meekness and harmless long-

: ufEerance, or patience the daughter of modesty and mediocrity,

' r else surely we ought to use these virtues and good gifts of

ler principally to our aUies and kinsfolk; and verily to crave

. .nd receive pardon of them when we ourselves have offended

I nd done amiss, declareth no less love and natural affection

han to forgive them if they have trespassed against us. And

herefore we ought not to neglect them if they be angry and

. ispleased ; nor to be strait-laced and stiffly stand against them

/hen they come to justify or excuse themselves ; but rather

)0th when ourselves have faulted, oftentimes to prevent their

236

Plutarch's Morals

anger by excuse, making or asking forgiveness, and also by
pardoning them before they come to excuse if we have been
wronged by them.

And therefore EucUdes, that great scholar of Socrates, is
much renowned and famous in all schools of philosophy, for that
when he heard his brother break out into these beastly and
wicked words against him. The foul ill take me if I be not
revenged and meet with thee; and a mischief come to me also
(quoth he again) if I appease not thine anger, and persuade
thee to love me as well as ever thou didst. But King Eumenes
not in word but in deed and effect surpassed all others in
meekness and patience: for Perseus, king of the Macedonians,
being his mortal enemy, had secretly addressed an ambush and
set certain men of purpose to murder him about Delphos, espying
their time when they saw him going from the seaside to the said
town for to consult with the oracle of Apollo : now when he was
gone a little past the ambush they began to assail him from
behind, tumbling down and throwing mighty stones upon his
head and neck, wherewith he was so astonished that his sight
failed, and he fell withal, in that manner as he was taken for
dead: now the rumour hereof ran into all parts, insomuch as
certain of his servitors and friends made speed to the city
Pergamus, reporting the tidings of this occurrent, as if they had
been present and seen all done; whereupon Attalus, the eldest
brother next unto himself, an honest and kind-hearted man, one
also who always had carried himself most faithfully and loyally
unto Eumenes, was not only declared king, and crowned with
the royal diadem; but that which more is, espoused and
married Queen Stratonice, his said brother's wife, and lay with
her. But afterwards, when counter-news came that Eumenes
was alive and coming homeward again, Attalus laid aside his
diadem, and taking a partisan or javelin in his hand (as his
manner beforetime was), with other pensioners and squires of
the body he went to meet his brother: King Eumenes received
him right graciously, took him lovingly by the hand, embraced
the queen with all honour, and of a princely and magnanimous
spirit put up all ; yea, and when he had lived a long time after
without any complaint, suspicion, and jealousy at all, in the
end at his death made over and assigned both the crown and
the queen his wife unto his brother, the aforesaid Attalus : and
what did Attalus now after his brother's decease? he would
not foster and bring up (as heir apparent) so much as one child
that he had by Stratonice his wife, although she bear unto him

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 237

many; but he nourished and carefully cherished the son of his
brother departed, until he was come to full age, and then himself
in his lifetime with his own hands set the imperial diadem and
royal crown upon his head, and proclaimed him king. But
Cambyses contrariwise, frighted upon a vain dream which he
had, that his brother was come to usurp the kingdom of Asia,
without expecting any proof or presumption thereof, put him
to death for it; by occasion whereof, the succession in the
empire went out of the race of Cyrus upon his decease, and was
devolved upon the line of Darius, who reigned after him; a
prince who knew how to communicate the government of his
affairs and his regal authority, not only with his brethren, but
also with his friends.

Moreover, this one point more is to be remembered and
observed diligently in all variances and debates that are risen
between brethren: namely, then especially, and more than at
any time else, to converse and keep company with their friends;
and on the other side to avoid their enemies and evil-willers,
and not to be willing so much as to vouchsafe them any speech
or entertainment. Following herein the fashion of the Candiots,
who being oftentimes fallen out and in civil dissension among
themselves, yea and warring hot one with another, no sooner
hear news of foreign enemies coming against them, but they
rank themselves, banding jointly together against them; and
this combination is that which thereupon is called syncretesmos.
For some there be that (like as water runneth always to the
lower ground, and to places that chink or cleave asunder) are
ready to side with those brethren or friends that be fallen out,
and by their suggestions buzzed into their ears, ruinate and
overthrow all acquaintance, kindred and amity, hating indeed
both parties, but seeming to bear rather upon the weaker side,
and to settle upon him who of imbecility soon yieldeth and
giveth place. And verily those that be simple and harmless
friends, such as commonly young folk are, apply themselves
commonly to him that aff ecteth a brother, helping and increasing
that love what he may; but the most malicious enemies are
they who espying when one brother is angry or fallen out with
another, seem to be angry and offended together with him for
company; and these do most hurt of all others. Like as the
hen therefore in ^sop answered unto the cat, making sem-
blance as though he heard her say she was sick, and therefore
in kindness and love asking how she did? I am well enough
'quoth she), I thank you, so that you were farther off; even so.

238

Plutarch's Morals

unto such a man as is inquisitive and entereth into talk as
touching the debate of brethren to sound and search into some
secrets between them, one ought to answer thus: Surely there
would be no quarrel between my brother and me if neither I
nor he would give ear to carry-tales and pick-thanks between us.
But now it Cometh to pass (I wot not how), that when our
eyes be sore and in pain, we turn away our sight unto those
bodies and colours which make no reverberation or repercussion
back again upon it; but when we have some complaint and
quarrel, or conceive anger or suspicion against our brethren,
we take pleasure to hear those that make all worse, and are apt
enough to take any colour and infection, presented to us by
them, where it were more needful and expedient at such a time
to avoid their enemies and evil-willers, and to keep ourselves
out of the way from them; and contrariwise to converse with
their allies, familiars, and friends; and with them to bear
company especially, yea, and to enter into their own houses for
to complain and blame them before their very wives, frankly
and with liberty of speech. And yet it is a common saying.
That brethren when they walk together should not so much as
let a stone to be betwixt them; nay, they are discontented and
displeased in mind, in case a dog chance to run overthwart them;
and a number of such other things they fear, whereof there
is not one able to make any breach or division between brethren;
but in the meanwhile they perceive not how they receive into
the midst of them, and suffer to traverse and cross them, men
of a currish and dogged nature, who can do nothing else but
bark between, and sow false rumours and calumniations between
one and another, for to provoke them to jar and fall together
by the ears : and therefore to great reason and very well to this
purpose said Theophrastus; That if all things (according to the
old proverb) should be common among friends, then most of
all they ought to entertain friends in common; for private
familiarities and acquaintances apart one from another are
great means to disjoin and turn away their hearts; for if they
fall to love others, and make choice of other familiar friends, it
must needs follow by consequence to take pleasure and delight
in other companies, to esteem and affect others, yea, and to
suffer themselves to be ruled and led by others. For friendships
and amities frame the natures and dispositions of men; neither
is there a more certain and assured sign of different humours
and divers natures than the choice and election of different
friends, in such sort as neither to eat and drink, nor to play, nor

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 239

to pass and spend whole days together in good fellowship and
company, is so effectual to hold and maintain the concord and
goodwill of brethren, as to hate and love the same persons; to
joy in the same acquaintance: and contrariwise to abhor and.
shun the same company; for when brethren have friends
common between them, the said friends will never suffer any
surmises, calumniations and quarrels to grow between; and
say that peradventure there do arise some sudden heat of choler
or grudging fit of complaint, presently it is cooled, quenched
and suppressed by the mediation of conunon friends ; for ready
they will be to take up the quarrel and scatter it so as it shall
vanish away to nothing if they be indifferently affectionate to
them both, and that their love incline no more to the one side
than to the other: for like as tin-solder doth knit and rejoin
a crackt piece of brass, in touching and taking hold of both sides
and edges of the broken pieces, for that it agreeth and sorteth
as well to the one as to the other, and suffereth from them both
alike; even so ought a friend to be fitted and suitable indif-
ferently unto both brethren, if he would knit surely, and confirm
strongly their mutual benevolence and goodwill. But such as
are unequal and cannot intermeddle and go between the one
as well as the other, make a separation and disjunction, and not
a sound joint, like as certain notes or discords in music. And
therefore it may well be doubted and question made whether
Hesiodus did well or no when he said :

Make not a feere I thee advise
Thy brother's peer in any wise.

For a discreet and sober companion common to both (as I said)
3efore, or rather incorporate (as it were) into them, shall ever
3e a sure knot to fasten brotherly love. But Hesiodus (as it
ihould seem) meant and feared this in the ordinary and vulgar
jort of men, who are many of them naught, by reason that so
:ustomably they be given to jealousy and suspicion, yea and
;o self-love, which if we consider and observe, it is well; but
vith this regard always, that although a man yield equal good-
vill unto a friend as unto a brother, yet nevertheless in case of
concurrence, he ought to reserve ever the pre-eminence and
irst place for his brother, whether it be in preferring him in
my election of magistrates, or to the managing of state affairy
)r in bidding and inviting him to a solemn feast, or pub' '•'
issembly to consult and debate of weighty causes; or •_
ecommending him to princes and great lords. For in v^

240 Plutarch's Morals

cases, which in the common opinion of the world are reputed
matters of honour and credit, a man ought to render the dignity,
honour, and reward which is beseeming and due to blood by the
course of nature. For in these things the advantage and pre-
rogative will not purchase so much glory and reputation to a
friend, as the repulse and putting-by bring disgrace, discredit,
and dishonour unto a brother.

Well, as touching this old said saw and sentence of Hesiodus,
I have treated more at large elsewhere; but the sententious
saying of Menander full wisely set down in these words:

No man who loves another shall you see
Well pleas' d, himself neglected for to be,

putteth us in mind and teacheth us to have good regard and
care of our brethren, and not to presume so much upon the
obligation of nature, as to despise them. For the horse is a
beast by nature loving to a man, and the dog loves his master;
but in case you never think upon them nor see unto them (as
you ought), they will forego that kind affection, estrange them-
selves and take no knowledge of you. The body also is most
nearly knit and united to the soul by the greatest bond of
nature that can be ; but in case it be neglected and contemned
by her, or not cherished so tenderly as it looketh to be,
unwilling shall you see it to help and assist her, nay, full
untowardly will it execute, or rather give over it will
altogether every action. Now to come more near and to
particularise upon this point, honest and good is that care
and diligence which is employed and shewed to thy brethren
themselves alone; but better it would be far if thy love and
kind affections be extended as far as to their wives' fathers and
daughters' husbands, by carrying a friendly mind and ready
will to pleasure them likewise, and to do for them in all their
occasions; if they be courteous and affable in saluting their
servants, such especially as they love and favour; thankful and
beholding to their physicians who had them in cure during sick-
ness and were diligent about them; acknowledging themselves
bound unto their faithful and trusty friends, or to such as were
willing and forward to take such part as they did in any long
voyage and expedition, or to bear them company in warfare.
And as for the wedded wife of a brother whom he is to reverence,
repute and honour no less than a most sacred and holy relique
o; moniunent, if at any time he happen to see her, it will become
^Vi to speak all honour and good of her husband before her; or

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 241

to be offended and complain (as well as she) of her husband, if
he set not that store by her as he ought, and when she is angered
to appease and still her. Say also that she have done some
light fault and offended her husband, to reconcile him again
Unto her and entreat him to be content and to pardon her; and
likewise if there be some particular and private cause of dif-
ierence between him and his brother, to acquaint the wife
'uherewith, and by her means to complain thereof, that she may
lake up the matter by composition and end the quarrel.

Lives thy brother a bachelor and hath no children? thou
oughtest in good earnest to be angry with him for it, to solicit
him to marriage, yea with chiding, rating and by all means urge
him to leave this single life, and by entering into wedlock to
be linked in lawful alliance and affinity : hath he children? then
you are to shew your goodwill and affection more manifestly,
as well toward him as his wife, in honouring him more than ever
before, in loving his children as if they were your own, yea, and
shewing yourself more indulgent, kind, and affable unto them;
that if it chance they do faults and shrewd turns (as little ones
are wont), they run not away, nor retire into some blind and
solitary comer for fear of father and mother, or by that means
light into some light, unhappy, and ungracious company, but
may have recourse and refuge unto their uncle, where they
may be admonished lovingly, and find an intercessor to make
their excuse and get their pardon. Thus Plato reclaimed his
brother's son or nephew Speusippus from his loose life and
dissolute riot, without doing any harm or giving him foul words,
but by winning him with fair and gentle language (whereas his
father and mother did nothing but rate and cry out upon him
continually, which caused him to run away and keep out of
their sight) he imprinted in his heart a great reverence of him,
and a fervent zeal to imitate him, and to set his mind to the
study of philosophy, notwithstanding many of his friends
thought hardly of him and blamed him not a little, for that he
took not another course with the untoward youth, namely, to
rebuke, check, and chastise him sharply: but this was evermore
his answer unto them: That he reproved and took him down
sufficiently by shewing unto him by his own life and carriage
what difference there was between vice and virtue, between
things honest and dishonest.

Alenas, sometime king of Thessaly, was hardly used and
overawed by his father, for that he was insolent, proud, and

242 Plutarch's Morals

violent withal; but contrariwise, his uncle by the father's side
would give him entertainment, bear him out, and make much
of him: Now when upon a time the Thessalians sent unto
Delphos certain lots, to know by the oracle of god Apollo who
should be their king? the foresaid uncle of Alenas unwitting to
his brother put in one for him: Then Pythia the prophetess
gave answer from Apollo and pronounced that Alenas should
be king: The father of Alenas denied, and said that he had
cast in no lot for him ; and it seemed unto every man that there
was some error in writing of those bills or names for the lottery:
whereupon new messengers were dispatched to the oracle for
to clear this doubt; and then Pythia, in confirmation of the
former choice, answered:

I mean that youth with reddish hair,
Whom dame Archedice in womb did bear.

Thus Alenas, declared and elected king of Thessaly, by the
oracle of Apollo, and by the means withal of his father's brother,
both proved himself afterward a most noble prince, excelling
all his progenitors and predecessors, and also raised the whole
nation and his country a great name and mighty puissance.

Furthermore, it is seemly and convenient by joying and taking
a glory in the advancement, prosperity, honours and dignities
of brothers' children, to augment the same, and to encourage
and animate them to virtue, and when they do well, to praise
them to the full. Haply it might be thought an odious and
unseemly thing for a man to commend much his own son, but
surely to praise a brother's son is an honourable thing, and
since it proceedeth not from the love of a man's self, it cannot
be thought but right, honest, and (in truth) divine:^ for surely
methinks the very name itself (of uncle) is sufficient to draw
brethren to affect and love dearly one another, and so con-
sequently their nephews: and thus we ought to propose unto
ourselves for to imitate the better sort and such as have been
immortalised and deified in times past: for so Hercules, not-
withstanding he had seventy sons within twain of his own, yet
he loved lolaus, his brother's son, no less than any of them;
insomuch as even at this day in most places there is but one
altar erected for him and his said nephew together, and men
pray jointly unto Hercules and lolaus. Also, when his brother
Iphiclus was slain in that famous battle which was fought near
' ' Oeios signifieth divine and an uncle.

Of Brotherly Love or Amity 243

Lacedaemon, he was so exceedingly displeased, and took such
indignation thereat, that he departed out of Peloponnesus and
left the whole country. As for Leucothea, when her sister was
dead, she nourished and brought up her child, and together
with her, ranged it among the heavenly saints: whereupon the
Roman dames even at this day, when they celebrate the feast of
Leucothea (whom they name Matuta) carry in their arms and
cherish tenderly their sisters' children, and not their own.

OF INTEMPERATE SPEECH OR
GARRULITY

THE SUMMARY

[That which is commonly said, All extremities be naught, requireth
otherwhiles an exposition, and namely, in that virtue which we call
temperance, one of the kinds or branches whereof consisteth in the
right use of the tongue, which is as much to say, as the skill and
knowledge how to speak as it becometh: now the moderation of
speech hath for the two extremes. Silence (a thing more often praise-
worthy than reproachable) and Babble ; against which this discourse
is addressed. Considering, then, that silence is an assured reward
unto wise men, and opposite directly unto much prattling, and
comely and seemly speech is in the midst, we call not silence a vice,
but say, that a man never findeth harm by holding his peace. But
as touching garrulity or intemperate speech, the author sheweth in
the very beginning of his treatise that it is a malady incurable and
against nature; for it doth frustrate the talkative person of his
greatest desire, to wit, for to have audience and credit given him;
also that it maketh a man inconsiderate, importune, and malapert,
ridiculous, mocked and hated, plunging him ordinzirily into danger,
as many events have proved by experience. For to discover this
matter the better, he saith consequently : That the nature of virtuous
men and those who have noble bringing up, is directly opposite
unto that of long-tongued persons; and joining the reasons by which
a man ought not to bewray his secret, together with those evils and
inconveniences which curiosity and much babble do bring, and
confirming all by fine similitudes and notable examples : afterwards,
taking in hand again his former speech and argument, he compareth
a traitor and busy talker together, to the end that all men should
so much the rather detest the vice of garrulity : then he proceedeth
immediately to discover and apply the remedies of this mischief,
willing us in the first place and generally to consider the calamities
and miseries that much babbling causeth; as also the good and
commodity which proceedeth of silence : which done he discourseth
of those particular remedies, which import thus much in effect:
That a man ought to frame and accustom himself, either to be
silent, or else to speak last; to avoid all hastiness in making his
answer; to say nothing, but that which is either needful or civil;
to shun and forbear those discourses which please us most, and
wherein we may be soon overseen and proceed too far; to find
busy praters occupied apart from them; to provide them the com-
pany of men who are of authority and aged; In sum, to consider
whether that which a man hath said, be convenient, meet, and
profitable, and nevertheless to think always of this: That other-
whiles a man may repent of some words spoken, but never of keeping
silence.]

244

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 245

A VERY hard and troublesome cure it is that philosophy hath
undertaken, namely, to heal the disease of much prating; for
that the medicine and remedy which she useth be words that
must be received by hearing; and these great talkers will abide
to hear no man, for that they have all the words themselves, and
talk continually; so that the first mischief of those who cannot
hold their tongue and keep silence is this; That they neither
can nor will give ear to another; insomuch as it is a wilful kind
of deafness in men, who seem thereby to control nature and
complain of her, in that where she hath allowed them two ears,
she hath given them but one tongue. If then Euripides said
very well unto a foolish auditor of his: '

Pour I wise words, and counsel what I can
With all my skill, into a sottish man,
Unneth shall I be able him to fill.
If hold and keep the same he never will,

a man may more truly and justly say unto (or rather of) a
prating fellow:

Pour I wise words, and counsel what I can
With all my skill imto a sottish man,
Unneth I shall be able him to fill.
In case receive the same he never will.

And in truth, more properly it may be said : That one poureth
»ood advertisements about such an one and beside him rather,
than into him, so long as he either speaketh unto him that
listeneth not, or giveth no ear unto them that speak : for if a
prattling fellow chance to hear some short and little tale, such is
the nature of this disease called garrulity, that his hearing is
Dut a kind of taking his wind new, to babble it forth again
mmediately, much more than it was, or like a whirlpool which
Arhatsoever it taketh once, the same it sendeth up again very
jften with the vantage.

Within the city Olympia there was a porch or gallery called
leptaphonos, for that from one voice by sundry reflections and
everberations it rendered seven echoes: but if some speech
:ome to the ears of a babbler, and enter never so little in, by
ind by it resoundeth again on every side.

And stirs the strings of secret heart within.
Which should lie still, and not be mov'd therein,

nsomuch, as a man may well say: That the conducts and
•assages of their hearing reach not to the brain where their
oul and mind is seated, but only to their tongue: by reason
/hereof, whereas in others the words that be heard do rest in

246 /jihi-nr. Plutarch's Morals rjyjnl

their understanding, in prattlers they void away and run out
presently, and afterwards they go up and down like empty
vessels, void of sense and full of sound.

Well, as incurable as such seem to be, yet if it may be thought
available to leave no experiment untried for to do such good,
we may begin our cure, and say thus unto a busy prattler:

Peace, my good son, for taciturnity
Brings aye with it much good commodity.

But among the rest these be the two chief and principal, namely:
to hear and to be heard; of which twain our importunate
talkers can attain neither the one nor the other, so unhappy
they are as to be frustrate of that which they so much desire.
As for other passions and maladies of the soul, namely, avarice,
ambition, love, and voluptuousness, they do all of them in some
sort enjoy their desire; but the thing that troubleth and tor-
men teth these babbling fellows most is this: That seeking for
audience so much as they do, and nothing more, they can never
meet with it, but every man shunneth their company, and fiieth
away as fast as his legs will carry him ; for whether men be set
together in a knot, sadly talking in their round chairs, or walking
in company, let them espy one of these prattlers coming toward
them, away they go every one, that a man would say the
retreat were sounded, so quickly they retire. And like as when
in some assembly, if all be hushed on a sudden so as there is not
a word, we use to say that Mercury is come among them ; even
so when a prating fool entereth into a place where friends are
either set at the board to make merry, or otherwise met together
in counsel, every man straightways is silent and holdeth his
peace, as being unwilling to minister occasion unto him of talk;
but if himself begin first to open his lips, up they rise all and
are soon gone, as mariners suspecting and doubting by the
whistling northern wind from the top of craggy rocks and
promontories, some rough sea, and fearing to be stomach-sick,
retire betimes into a bay for harbour: whereby it cometh to
pass also, that neither at a supper can he meet with guests
willing to eat and drink with him, nor yet companions to lodge
with him, either in journey by land, or voyage by sea, unless it
be by constraint. For so importunate he is always that one
while he is ready to hang upon a man's cloak wheresoever he
goes, another while he takes hold on the side of his beard, as if
he knocked at the door with his hand to force him to speak; in
which case well fare a good pair of legs, for they are worth

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 247

much money at such a time; as Archilochus was wont to say,
yea, and Aristotle also, that wise philosopher: for when upon
a time he was much troubled with one of these busy praters,
who haunted and wearied him out of measure with cavilling
tales and many foolish and absurd discourses, iterating eftsoons
these words; And is not this a wonderful thing, Aristotle? No,
iwis (quoth he again), but this were a wonder rather, if a man
that hath feet of his own should stand still and abide to hear
you thus prate. Unto another also of the same stamp, who
after much prittle-prattle and a long discourse, said thus unto
him: I doubt I have been tedious unto you, philosopher, with
my many words; No, in good sooth (quoth Aristotle unto him),
for I gave no ear at all unto you. For if otherwhiles men cannot
shake such praters off, but must of necessity let their tongues
walk, this benefit he hath by the soul, that she retireth inwardly
all the while lending the outward ears only for them to beat upon,
and dash as it were all about with their jangling bibble-babble ;
for she in the meantime is otherwise occupied, and discourseth
to herself of divers matters within; by which means such
fellows can meet with no hearers that take heed what they say,
or believe their words. For as it is generally held, that the
natural seed of such as are lecherous and much given to the
company of women is unfruitful and of no force to engender;
even so the talk of these great praters is vain, barren, and alto-
gether fruitless. And yet there is no part or member of our
body that nature hath so surely defended (as it were) with a
strong rampart as the tongue: for before it she hath set a
palisado of sharp teeth, to the end that if peradventure it will
not obey reason, which within holdeth it hard as with a strait
bridle, but it will blatter out and not tarry within, we might bite
it until it bleed again, and so restrain the intemperance thereof.
For Euripides said not that houses unbolted.

But tongues and mouths unbridled if they be
Shall find in th' end mishap and misery.

And those in my conceit who say that housen without doors,
and purses without strings, serve their masters in no stead,
and yet in the meantime neither set hatch nor lock unto their
mouths, but suffer them run out and overflow continually, like
anto the mouth of the sea Pontus, these, I say, in mine opinion
seem to make no other account of words than of the basest thing
n the world; whereby they are never believed (say what they
m\\), and yet this is the proper end and scope that all speech

248

Plutarch's Morals

tendeth to, namely, to win credit with the hearers; and no
man will ever believe these great talkers, no not when they
speak the truth. For like as wheat, if it be enclosed within
some dank or moist vessel, doth swell and yield more in measure,
but for use is found to be worse; even so it is with the talk of
a prattling person ; well may he multiply and augment it with
lying, but by that means it leeseth all the force of persuasion.
Moreover, what modest, civil, and honest man is there who
would not very carefully take heed of drunkenness? for anger
(as some say) may well be ranged with rage and madness; and
drunkenness doth lodge and dwell with her, or rather is madness
itself,^ only in circumstance of time it may be counted less, for
that it continueth less while, but surely in regard of the cause
it is greater, for that it is voluntary, and we run wilfully into it,
and without any constraint. Now there is no one thing for
which drunkenness is so much blamed and accused as for intem-
perate speech and talk without end : for as the poet saith :

Wine makes a man who is both wise and grave
To sing and chant, to laugh full wantonly,
It causeth him to dance, and eke to rave,
And many things to do undecently ;

for the greatest and worst matter that ensueth thereupon is not
singing, laughing, and dancing; there is another inconvenience
in comparison whereof all these are nothing, and that is :

To blxirt abroad, and those words to reveal,
Which better were within for to conceal.

This is (I say) the mischief most dangerous of all the rest: and
it may be that the poet covertly would assoil that question
which the philosophers have propounded and disputed upon;
namely, what difference there might be between liberal drinking
of wine and stark drunkenness } in attributing unto the former
mirth and jocundness extraordinary, and to the latter much
babbling and foolish prattle: for according to the common
proverb, that which is seated in the heart and thought of a
sober person, lieth aloft in the mouth and tongue of a drunkard.
And therefore wisely answered the philosopher Bias unto one
of these jangling and prating companions : for when he seemed
to mock him for sitting still, and saying nothing at a feast,
insomuch as he gave him the lob and fool for it: And how is it
possible (quoth he) that a fool should hold his peace at the
table?

• Ira furor brevis est.

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 249

There was upon a time a citizen of Athens who feasted the

ambassadors of the king of Persia, and for that he perceived that

these great lords would take delight in the company of learned

men and philosophers, upon a brave mind that he carried,

invited they were all and met there together: now when all the

rest began to discourse in general, and every man seemed to put

in some vie for himself, and to hold and maintain one theme

or other, Zeno, who sat among them, was only silent and spake

not a word; whereupon the said ambassadors and strangers

of Persia began to be merry with him and to drink unto him

round, saying in the end : And what shall we report of you. Sir

Zeno, unto the king our master? Marry (quoth he), no more

but this, that there is an ancient man at Athens who can sit

at the board and say nothing. Thus you see that silence

argueth deep and profound wisdom; it impHeth sobriety, and

is a mystical secret and divine virtue; whereas drunkenness is

talkative, full of words, void of sense and reason; and indeed

thereupon multiplieth so many words, and is ever jangling.

.\nd in truth the philosophers themselves when they define

irunkenness say: That it is a kind of raving and speaking

dly at the table upon drinking too much wine ; whereby it is

ivident that they do not simply condemn drinking, so that a

nan keep himself within the bounds of modesty and silence;

Dut it is excessive and foolish talk, that of drinking wine maketh

irunkenness. Thus the drunkard raveth and talketh idly when

le is cup-shotten at the board ; but the prattler and man of many

vords doth it always and in every place, in the market and common

lall, at the theatre, in the public galleries and walking-places,

)y day and by night. If he be a physician and visit his patient,

ertes he is more grievous, and doth more hurt in his cure than

he malady itself; if he be a passenger with others in a ship, all

he company had rather be sea-sick than hear him prate ; if he

: et to praise thee, thou wert better to be dispraised by another;

; nd in a word, a man shall have more pleasure and delight

' 0 converse and commune with lewd persons so they be discreet

; 1 their speech, than with others that be busy talkers, though

< therwise they be good honest men. True it is indeed that old

. lestor, in a tragedy of Sophocles, speaking unto Ajax (who

i vershot himself in some hot and hasty words), for to appease

i nd pacify him, saith thus after a mild and gracious manner:

I blame not you, Sir Ajax, for your speech,
Naught though it be, your deeds are nothing leech.

', lut surely we are not so well affected unto a vain-prating fellow;

250 Plutarch's Morals

for his importunate and unseasonable words mar all his good
works, and make them to lose their grace. Lysias upon a time,
at the request of one who had a cause to plead unto at the
bar, penned an oration for his purpose and gave it him. The
party after he had read and read it over again, came unto Lysias
heavy and ill-apaid, saying; The first time that I perused
your oration methought it was excellently well written, and I
wondered at it; but when I took it a second and third time in
hand, it seemed very simply indited and carried no forcible
and effectual style with it: Why (quoth Lysias, and smiled
withal), know you not that you are to pronounce it but once
before the judges? and yet see and mark withal the persuasive
eloquence and sweet grace that is in the writing of Lysias, for
I may be bold to say and affirm of him, that

The Muses with their broided violet hair,
Grac'd him with favour much and beauty fair.

And among those singular commendations that are given out of
any poet, most true it is that Homer is he alone of all that
ever were who overcame all satiety of the reader; seeming ever-
more new and fresh, flourishing always in the prime of lovely
grace, and appearing young still and amiable to win favour;
howbeit in speaking and professing thus much of himself:

It grieves me much for to rehearse again
A tale that once delivered hath been plain,

he sheweth sufficiently that he avoideth what he can, and
feareth that tedious satiety which followeth hard at heels, and
layeth wait (as it were) unto all long trains of speech ; in which
regard he leadeth the reader and hearer of his poems from one
discourse and narration to another, and evermore with novelties
doth so refresh and recreate him, that he thinketh he hath
never enough; whereas our long-tongued chatterers do after a
sort wound and weary the ears of their hearers by their tauto-
logies and vain repetitions of the same thing as they that soil
and slourry writing-tables when they be fair scoured and
cleansed : and therefore let us set this first and foremost before
their eyes, that like as they who force men to drink wine out of
measure and undelayed with water, are the cause that the good
blessing which was given us to rejoice our hearts and make us
pleasant and merry, driveth some into sadness, and others into
drunkenness and violence; even so, they that beyond all reason
and to no purpose use their speech (which is a thing otherwise
counted the most delightsome and amiable means of conference

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 251

and society that men have together) cause it to be inhuman
and unsociable, displeasing those whom they thought to please,
making them to be mocked at their hands, of whom they looked
to be well esteemed, and to have their evil will and displeasure,
whose love and amity they made reckoning of. And even as
he by good right may be esteemed uncourteous and altogether
uncivil, who with the girdle and tissue of Venus, wherein are all
sorts of kind and amiable allurements, should repel and drive
from him as many as desire his company; so he that with his
speech maketh others heavy and himself hateful, may well be
held and reputed for a graceless man and of no bringing up
in the world.

As for other passions and maladies of the mind, some are
dangerous, others odious, and some again ridiculous and exposed
to mockery; but garrulity is subject unto all these incon-
veniences at once. For such folk as are noted for their lavish
tongue are a mere laughing-stock, and in every common and
ordinary report of theirs, they minister occasion of laughter;
hated they be for their relation of ill news, and in danger they
are because they cannot conceal and keep close their own secrets :
hereupon Anacharsis being invited one day and feasted by
Solon, was reputed wise, for that being asleep he was found and
5een holding his right hand to his mouth, and his left upon his
Drivities and natural parts: for good reason he had to think
that the tongue required and needed the stronger bridle and
3it to restrain it: and in very truth it were a hard matter to
•eckon so many persons undone and overthrown by their intem-
Derate and loose life, as there have been cities and mighty states
iiinated and subverted utterly by the revealing and opening of
;ome secrets.

It fortuned that whiles Sylla did inleaguer before the city of
Uhens, and had not leisure to stay there long and continue the
iege, by reason of other affairs and troubles pressed him sore,
or of one side King Mithridates invaded and harried Asia, and
m the other side the faction of Marius gathered strength; and
laving gotten head, prevailed much within Rome: certain old
: allows being met in a barber's shop within the city of Athens,
• /ho were blabs of their tongues, clattered it out in their talk

■ ogether that a certain quarter of the city named Heptacalchon
•' /as not sufficiently guarded, and therefore the town in danger

■ 0 be surprised by that part ; which talk of theirs was overheard
'1 y certain spies, who advertised Sylla so much; whereupon
i nmediately he brought all his forces to that side, and about

252 Plutarch's Morals

midnight gave an hot assault, made entry, and went within a
very little of forcing the city and being master of it all, for he
filled the whole street called Ceramicum with slaughter and
dead carcases, insomuch as the channels ran down with blood.
Now was he cruelly bent against the Athenians more for their
hard language which they gave him than for any offence or
injury otherwise that they did unto him, for they had flouted
and mocked Sylla, together with his wife Metella; and for that
purpose they would get upon the walls and say; Sylla is a
sycamore or mulberry, bestrewed all over with dusty meal;
besides many other such foolish jibes and taunts; and so for the
lightest thing in the world (as Plato saith), to wit, words which
are but wind, they brought upon their heads a most heavy and
grievous penalty. The garrulity and over-much talk of one
man was the only hindrance that the city of Rome was not set
free and delivered from the tyranny of Nero. For there was
but one night between the time that Nero should have been
murthered on the morrow, and all things were ready and
prepared for the purpose: but he who had undertaken the
execution of that feat, as he went toward the theatre, espied
one of those persons who were condemned to die, bound, and
pinioned at the prison door, and ready to be led and brought
before Nero; who hearing him to make piteous moan and
lamenting his miserable fortune, steps to him and rounding
him softly in the ear: Pray to God, poor man (quoth he), that
this one day may pass over thy head, and that thou die not
to-day, for to-morrow thou shalt con me thanks. The poor
prisoner, taking hold presently of this enigmatical and dark
speech, and thinking (as I suppose) that one bird in hand is
better than two in bush, and according to the common saying,
that

A fool is he who leaving that
Which ready is and sure.

Doth follow after things that be
Unready and unsure,

made choice of saving his life by the surer way, rather than by
the juster means; for he discovered unto Nero that which the
man had whispered secretly unto him: whereupon presently
the party was apprehended and carried away to the place of
torture, where by racking, scorching, and scourging, he was
urged, miserable wretch, to confess and speak out that perforce
which of himself he had revealed without any constraint at all.
Zeno the philosopher, fearing that when his body was put to

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 253

dolorous and horrible torments, he should be forced even
against his will to bewray and disclose some secret plot, bit
off his tongue with his own teeth and spit it in the tyrant's
face.

Notable is the example of Lesena, and the reward which she
had for containing and ruling her tongue is singular. An harlot
she was and ver)' familiar with Harmodius and Aristogiton;
by means of which inward acquaintance, privy she was and
party as far forth as a woman might be to that conspiracy which
they had complotted against the usurping tyrants of Athens,
and the hopes that they builded upon (drunk she had out of
that fair cup of love, and thereby vowed never to reveal the
secrets of god Cupid). Now after that these two paramours
and lovers of hers had failed of their enterprise and were put
to death, she was called into question and put to torture, and
therewith commanded to declare the rest of the complices in that
conspiracy, who as yet were unknown and not brought to light:
but so constant and resolute she was that she would not detect
30 much as one, but endured all pains and extremities what-
soever; whereby she shewed that those two young gentlemen
lad done nothing unfitting their persons and nobility in making
:hoice to be enamoured of her. In regard of which rare secrecy
)f hers the Athenians caused a lioness to be made of brass
without a tongue, and the same in memorial of her to be erected
md set up at the very gate and entry of their citadel; giving
josterity to understand by the generosity of that beast what
m undaunted and invincible heart she had; and likewise of
vhat taciturnity and trust in keeping secrets, by making it
ongueless: and to say a truth, never any word spoken served
o so good stead as many concealed and held in have profited,
''or why ? A man may one time or other utter that which he
< 'uce kept in ; but being spoken, it cannot possibly be recalled
; nd unsaid, for out it is gone already and spread abroad sundry
^ ^ays. And hereupon it is (I suppose) that we have men to
1 sach us for to speak, but we learn of the gods to hold our
] eace. For in sacrifices, religious mysteries, and ceremonies of
( ivine service we receive by tradition a custom to keep silence.
^ jid even so, the poet Homer feigned Ulysses (whose eloquence
'c therwise was so sweet) to be of all men most silent and of
1 jwest words; his son likewise, his wife and nurse, whom you
1 lay hear thus speaking:

As soon shall stock of sturdy oak it tell.
Or iron so strong as I will it reveal.

2 54 C^^i'^'' Plutarch's Morals

And Ulysses himself, sitting by Penelope before he would be
known unto her who he was :

Griev'd in his mind, and pitied to behold
His wife by tears to shew what heart did feel,
But all the while his eyes he stiff did hold.
Which stirr'd no more than horn or sturdy steel;

SO full was his tongue of patience, and his lips of continence.
For why? reason had all the parts of his body so obeisant and
ready at command, that it gave order to the eyes not to shed
tears; to the tongue not to utter a word; to the heart not to
pant or tremble, nor so much as to sob or sigh :

Thus unto reason obeisant was his heart.
Persuaded all to take in better part ;

yea, his reason had gotten the mastery of those inward and
secret motions which are void and incapable of reason, as having
under her hand the very blood and vital spirits in all obeisance :
his people also and train about him were for the most part of
that disposition; for what wanted this of constancy and loyalty
to their lord in the highest degree, to suffer themselves to be
pulled and haled, to be tugged and tossed, yea and dashed
against the hard ground under foot by the giant Cyclops, rather
than to utter one word against Ulysses, or to bewray that log
of wood which was burnt at the one end, and an instrument
made ready for to put out his only eye that he had ? nay, they
endured rather to be eaten and devoured raw by him, than to
disclose any of Ulysses his secrets. Pittacus therefore did not
amiss, who when the King of Egypt had sent unto him a beast
for sacrifice, and willed him withal to take out and lay apart
the best and worst piece thereof, plucked out the tongue and
sent it unto him, as being the organ of many good things, and
no less instrument of the worst that be in the world. And
Lady Ino, in Euripides, speaking freely of herself, saith that
she knew the time

When that she ought her tongue to hold.
And when to speak she might be bold.

For certainly those who have had noble and princely bringing
up indeed, learn first to keep silence, and afterwards how to
speak. And therefore King Antigonus the Great, when his son
upon a time asked him. When they should dislodge and break
up the camp : What, son (quoth he), art thou alone afraid, that
when the time comes thou shalt not hear the trumpet sound

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 255

the remove? Lo, how he would not trust him with a word of
secrecy, unto whom he was to leave his kingdom in succession I
teaching him thereby that he also another day should in such
cases be wary and spare his speech. Old Metellus likewise, being
asked such another secret as touching the army and setting
forward of some expedition : If I wist (quoth he) that my shirt
which is next my skin knew this my inward intent and secret
purpose, I would put it off and fling it into the fire. King
Eumenes, being advertised that Craterus was coming against
him with his forces, kept it to himself, and would not acquaint
any of his nearest friends therewith, but made semblance and
^ave it out (though untruly) that it was Neoptolemus who had
the leading of that power; for him did his soldiers contemn and
nake no reckoning of, whereas the glory and renown of Craterus
;hey had in admiration, and loved his virtue and valour: now
vhen no man else but himself knew of Craterus his being in
;he field, they gave him battle, vanquished him, slew him before
hey were aware, neither took they knowledge of him before
hey found him dead on the ground.

See how by a stratagem of secrecy and silence the victory was
i.chieved, only by concealing so hardy and terrible an enemy;
iisomuch as his very friends about him admired more his
\dsdom in keeping this secret from them, than complained of
1 is diffidence and distrust of them. And say that a man should
c omplain of thee in such a case, better it were yet to be chal-
1 ;nged and blamed for distrusting, all the while thou remainest
sife and obtain a victory by that means, than to be justly
a :cused after an overthrow, for being so open and trusting so
e isily. Moreover, how darest thou confidently and boldly blame
a id reprove another for not keeping that secret which thou
t lyself hast revealed ? for if it was behoveful and expedient
t lat it should not be known, why hast thou told it to another?
b it in case when thou hast let fly a secret from thyself unto a
n an, thou wouldest have him to hold it in, and not blurt it out,
St rely it cannot be but thou hast better confidence in another
tl an thyself: now if he be like thyself, who will pity thee if thou
C( me by a mischief? is he better, and so by that means saveth
tl ee harmless beyond all reason and ordinary course ? then hast
t\ Du met with one more faithful to thee than thou art thyself r
bi t haply thou wilt say: He is my very friend; so hath he
at other friend (be sure) whom he will do as much for, and disclose
th ; same secret unto, and that friend (no doubt) hath another.
Tl us one word will get more still, it will grow and multiply by

256

Plutarch's Morals

a suit and sequence linked and hanging to an intemperate
tongue: for like as unity, so long as she passeth not her bounds,
but continueth and remaineth still in herself, is one and no more,
in which respect she is called in Greek, monas, that is to say,
alone; whereas the number of twain is the beginning of a
diversity (as it were) and difference, and therefore indefinite;
for straightways is unity passed forth of itself by doubling, and
so tumeth to a plurality; even so a word or speech all the while
it abideth enclosed in him who first knew it, is truly and properly
called a secret, but after it is once gotten forth and set a-going,
so that it is come unto another, it beginneth to take the name
of a common bruit and rumour: for as the poet very well
saith; Words have wings. A bird, if she be let fly once out
of our hands, it is much ado to catch again, and even so,
when a word hath passed out of a man's mouth, hardly or
unneth may we withhold or recover; for it fiieth amain,
it flappeth her light wings, fetching many a round compass,
and spreadeth every way from one quarter to another: well
may mariners stay a ship with cables and anchors, when the
violence of the wind is ready to drive and carry her an end,
or at leastwise they may moderate her swift and flight course;
but if a word be issued out of the mouth, as out of her haven,
and have gotten sea-room, there is no bay nor harbour to ride
in, there is no casting of anchor will serve the turn, away she
goes with a mighty noise and hurry, until in the end she runs
upon some rock and is split, or else into a great and deep gulf,
to the present danger of him who set her forth :

For in small time, and with a little spark
Of fire, a man may bum the forest tall
Of Ida mount ; ev'n so (who list to mark)
All town will hear, a word to one let fall.

The senate of Rome upon a time sat in sad and serious
counsel many days together, about a matter of great secrecy:
now the thing being so much the more suspected and hearkened
after, as it was less apparent and known abroad, a certain
Roman dame, otherwise a good, sober and wise matron (howbeit
a woman), importuned her husband and instantly besought him
of all loves to tell her what this secret matter might be upon
which they did sit so close in consultation? protesting with
many an oath and execrable curse to keep silence and not to
utter it to any creature in the world ; you must think also, that
she had tears at command, lamenting and complaining withal
what an unhappy woman she was, in case her husband would

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 257

not trust her so much as with a word : the Roman senator her
husband minding to try and reprove her folly: Thou hast
overcome me, sweetheart (quoth he), and through thine impor-
tunity thou shalt hear of a strange and terrible occurrent that
troubleth us all. So it is, that we are advertised by our priests
that there hath been a lark of late seen flying in the air, with a
golden cop or crest on her head in manner of an helmet, and
withal bearing a javelin: hereupon we do confer and consult
with our soothsayers and diviners, desirous to be certified out
of their learning, whether this prodigious token portend good
or hurt to the commonweal; but keep it to thyself (as thou
lovest me), and tell it nobody. When he had thus said, he went
forth toward the common hall and market-place: his wife
incontinently had no sooner spied one of her waiting-maidens
:oming into the room, but she drew her apart, begun to beat
ind knock her own breast, to rend and tear the hair off her
lead, and therewith: Ah, woe's me (quoth she) for my poor
lusband, my sweet native country; alas and welladay, what
ihall we do, and what will become of us all? as if she taught
ler maid and were desirous that she should say thus unto her
igain: Why, what is the matter, mistress? Now when the
naiden thereupon asked her, What news? she set tale an end
.Old told all, marry, she forgat not the common and ordinary
] )urden or clause, that all blabs of their tongue use to come in
• yith : But in any case (quoth she) say nothing, but keep it to
ihyself. Scarce was she gone out of her mistress's sight, but
: eeing one of her fellows whom she found most at leisure and
( oing little or nothing, to her she imparted all. That wench
1 gain made no more ado, but to her lover she goes, who haply
1 hen was come to visit her, and telleth him as much. By this
1 leans the tale was bruited abroad, and passed roundly from one
1o another; insomuch as the rumour thereof was run into the
1 larket-place, and there went current before the first author
i nd deviser thereof himself was gotten thither. For there
I leets with him one of his familiars and friends : How now
( luoth he), are you come but now directly from your house to
t le market-place ? No (quoth he again), I am but newly come :
V/hy then belike (saith the other) you have heard no news?
I ews (quoth he), what news should I hear? and what tidings
c m you tell me off ? Why, man (answered he again), there hath
I 3en of late a lark seen flying with a golden cop or crest on her
1 aad, and carrying beside a javelin; and the consuls with other
r agistrates are ready to call a senate house for to sit upon this

I

258

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strange occurrent. With that the senator beforesaid, turning
aside and smiUng, thus said to himself: Well done, wife, I con
thee thank for thy quickness and celerity, thou hast quit thyself
well indeed, that the word which erewhile I uttered unto thee
is gotten before me into the market-place. Well, the first thing
that he did was this : To the magistrates he went straightways,
signified unto them the occasion of this speech, and freed them
from all fear and trouble: but when he was come home to his
own house he fell in hand to chastise his wife : How now, dame
(quoth he), how is this come to pass? you have undone me for
ever; for it is found and known for a truth, that this secret
and matter of counsel which I imparted to you, is divulged and
published abroad, and that out of my house: and thus your
unbridled tongue is the cause that I must abandon and fly my
country, and forthwith depart into exile. Now when at the
first she would have denied the thing stoutly, and alleged for her
excuse and defence, saying: Are not there three hundred senators
besides yourself who heard it as well as you ? No marvel then if
it be known abroad. What, tell you me of three hundred (quoth
he). Upon your importunate instance, I devised it of mine own
head, in mirth, to try your silence, and whether you could keep
counsel. Certes, this senator was a wise man and went safely
and warily to work, who to make proof of his wife, whom he
took to be no sounder nor surer than a cracked and rotten
vessel, would not pour into it either wine or oil, but water only,
to see if it would leak and run out.

But Fulvius, one of the favourites and minions of Augustus
the emperor, when he was now well steeped in years, having
heard him toward his latter days lamenting and bewailing the
desolate estate of his house, in that he had no children of his
own body begotten, and that of his three nephews or sisters'
children two were dead, and Posthumius (who only remained
alive), upon an imputation charged upon him, confined and
living in banishment, whereupon he was enforced to bring in
his wife's son, and declare him heir apparent to succeed him
in the empire: notwithstanding upon a tender compassion he
was otherwhiles in deliberation with himself, and minded to
recall his foresaid sister's son from exile and the place whereunto
he was confined. Fulvius (I say), being privy to these moans
and designs of his, went home and told his wife all that he
had heard. She could not hold, but goes to the Empress Livia,
wife of Augustus, and reported what her husband Fulvius had
told her. Whereupon Livia, taking great indignation, sharply

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 259

did contest and expostulate with Caesar in these tenns: That
seeing it is so (quoth she) that you had so long before projected
and determined such a thing as to call home again your nephew
aforesaid; why sent you not for him at the first, but exposed
me to hatred, enmity and war with him, who another day
should wear the diadem and be emperor after your decease?
Well, the next morning betimes, when Fulvius came, as his
manner was, to salute Caesar and give him good morrow, after
he had said unto him x"V^; Kato-a/j, that is, God save you,
Caesar; he resaluted him no otherwise but this, vytaive, ^ovX/Su,
that is, God make you wise, Fulvius. Fulvius soon found him
and conceived presently what he meant thereby; whereupon he
retired home to his house with all speed, and called for his wife;
unto whom : Caesar (quoth he) is come to the knowledge that I
have not kept his counsel nor concealed his secrets; and there-
fore I am resolved to make myself away with mine own hands.
And well worthy (quoth she), for justly you have deserved death,
who having lived so long with me, knew not the incontinence of
my tongue all this while, nor would take heed and beware of it;
but yet suffer me first to die upon your sword ; and with that,
catching hold thereof, killed herself before her husband. And
therefore Philippides, the comedian, did very wisely in his
answer to King Lysimachus, who by way of all courtesy making
much of him, and minding to do him honour, demanded of him
thus: What wouldest thou have me to impart unto thee of all
other treasure and riches that I have? What it shall please
your majesty (quoth he), my gracious lord, so it be none of
your secrets.

Moreover, there is adjoined ordinarily unto garrulity another
vice no less than it; namely, busy intermeddling and curiosity,
for men desire to hear and know much news, because they
may report and blaze the same abroad, and especially if they
be secrets. Thus go they up and down listening, inquiring, and
searching if they can find and discover some close and hidden
speeches, adding as it were some old surcharge of odious matters
to their toys and fooleries ; which maketh them afterwards to be
like unto little boys, who neither can hold ice in their hands,
lor yet will let it go; or to say more truly, they clasp and
contain in their bosoms secret speeches, resembling serpents,
vhich they are not able to hold and keep long, but are eaten
ind gnawed by them. It is said that certain fishes called the
;ea-needles, yea and the vipers, do cleave and burst when they
)ring forth their young; and even so, secrets when they be let

26o Plutarch's Morals

fall out of their mouths, who cannot contain them, undo and
overthrow those that reveal them.

King Seleucus (him, I mean, who was sumamed Callinicus,
that is, the victorious conqueror) in one battle against the
Galatians was defeated, he and his whole power; whereupon
he took from his head the diadem or royal band that he wear,
and rode away on the spur on horseback with three or four in
his company, wandering through desarts and byways unknown
so long, until both horse and man were done and ready to faint
for weariness: at length he came unto a country keams or
peasant's cottage; and finding (by good fortune) the good man
of the house within, asked for bread and water; which the said
peasant or cottier gave unto him ; and not that only, but look,
what the field would afford else besides he imparted unto him
and his company with a willing heart and in great plenty,
making them the best cheer that he could devise: in the end
he knew the king's face, whereupon he took such joy, in that
his hap was to entertain the king in his necessity, that he could
not contain himself, nor second the king in dissembling his
knowledge, who desired nothing more than to be unknown;
when he had therefore brought the king onward on his way,
and was to take his leave of him: Adieu (quoth he). King
Seleucus : with that the king reached forth his hand, and drew
him toward him, as if he would have kissed him, and withal
beckoned to one of his followers, and gave him a secret token to
take his sword and make the man shorter by the head.

Thus whiles he spake (I wot not what) his head
Off goes, and lies in dust when he was dead ;

whereas, if he could have held his tongue a little while longer,
and mastered himself, when the king afterwards had better
fortune and recovered his greatness and puissance, he should
in my conceit have gotten more thanks at his hands, and been
better rewarded for keeping silence than for all the courtesy and
hospitality that he shewed. And yet this fellow had in some
sort a colourable excuse for this intemperate tongue of his, to
wit, his own hopes and the goodwill that he bare unto the king :
but the most part of these prattlers undo themselves without
any cause or pretence at all of reason: like as it befell unto
Denys the Tyrant's barber: for when (upon a time) there were
some talking in his shop as touching his tyrannical government
and estate, how assured it was, and as hard to be ruined or
overthrown as it is to break the diamond: the said barber

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 261

laughing thereat: I marvel (quoth he) that you should say so
of Denys, who is so often under my hands, and at whose throat
in a manner every day I hold my razor: these words were soon
carried to the tyrant Denys, who fair crucified this barber and
hanged him for his foolish words. And to say a truth, all the
sort of these barbers be commonly busy fellows with their
tongue; and no marvel, for lightly the greatest praters and
idlest persons in a country frequent the barber's shop, and sit
in his chair, where they keep such chat, that it cannot be but
by hearing them prate so customably, his tongue also must walk
with them. And therefore King Archelaus answered very
pleasantly unto a barber of his, that was a man of no few words,
who when he had cast his linen cloth about his shoulders, said
unto him: Sir, may it please your highness to tell me how I
shall cut or shave you ? Marry (quoth he), holding thy tongue
and saying not a word. A barber it was who first reported in
the city of Athens the news of that great discomfiture and over-
throw which the Athenians received in Sicily; for keeping his
shop (as he did) in that end of the suburbs called Pyraeum, he
had no sooner heard the said unlucky news of a certain slave
who fled from thence out of the field when it was lost, but
leaving shop and all at six and seven, ran directly into the city,
and never rested to bring the said tidings, and whiles they were
fresh and fire-new.

For fear some else might all the honour win,
And he too late, or second, should come in.

Now upon the broaching of these unwelcome tidings, a man
may well think (and not without good cause) that there was a
great stir within the city; insomuch, as the people assembled
together into the market-place or common hall, and search was
made for the author of this rumour: hereupon the said barber
was haled and brought before the body of the people, and
sxamined; who knew not so much as the name of the party of
whom he heard this news; But well assured I am (quoth he)
that one said so, marry, who it was or what his name might be
I cannot tell. Thus it was taken for an headless tale, and the
whole theatre or assembly was so moved to anger, that they
:ried out with one voice; Away with the villain, have the varlet
:o the rack, set the knave upon the wheel, he it is only that hath
nade all on his own fingers' ends, this hath he and none but he
levised; for who else hath heard it, or who besides him hath
jelieved it? Well, the wheel was brought, and upon it was the

262 Plutarch's Morals

barber stretched : meanwhile, and even as the poor wretch was
hoisted thereupon, behold there arrived and came to the city
those who brought certain news indeed of the said defeature,
even they who made a shift to escape out of that infortunate
field : then brake up the assembly, and every man departed and
retired home to his own house, for to bewail his own private loss
and calamity, leaving the silly barber lying along bound to the
wheel, and racked out to the length, and there remained he until
it was very late in the evening, at what time he was let loose;
and no sooner was he at liberty but he must needs inquire news
of the executioner, and namely; what they heard abroad of the
general himself, Nicias, and in what sort he was slain? So
inexpugnable and incorrigible a vice is this, gotten by custom
of much talk, that a man cannot leave it, though he were
going to the gallows, nor keep in those tidings which no man
is willing to hear: for certes, like as they who have drunk bitter
potions or unsavoury medicines, cannot away with the very
cups wherein they were; even so, they that bring evil and
heavy tidings, are ordinarily hated and detested of those unto
whom they report the same. And therefore Sophocles the
poet hath very finely distinguished upon this point in these
verses :

Messenger. Is it your heart, or else your ear,
That this offends, which you do hear?

Creon. And why dost thou search my disease.
To know what grief doth me displease?

Messenger. His deeds (I see) offend your heart.
But my words cause your ears to smart.

Well then, those who tell us any woeful news be as odious as
they who work our woe ; and yet for all that, there is no restraint
and bridling of an untemperate tongue that is given to talk
and overreach. It fortuned one day at Lacedaemon, that the
temple of Juno, called there Chalciaecos, was robbed, and within
it was found a certain empty flagon or stone bottle for wine:
great running there was and concourse of the people thither,
and men could not tell what to make of that flagon: at last
one of them that stood by; My masters (quoth he), if you will
give nle leave, I shall tell you what my conceit is of that flagon,
for my mind gives me (saith he) that these church-robbers who
projected to execute so perilous an enterprise, had first drunk
the juice of hemlock before they entered into the action, and
afterwards brought wine with them in this bottle, to the end
that if they were not surprised nor taken in the manner, they
might save their lives by drinking each of them a good draught

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 263

of mere wine; the nature and virtue whereof (as you know
well enough) is to quench as it were and dissolve the vigour
and strength of that poison, and so go their ways safe enough,
but if it chance that they were taken in the deed doing, then
they might by means of that hemlock which they had drunk
die an easy death, and without any great pain and torment,
before that they were put to torture by the magistrate. He
had no sooner delivered this speech, but the whole company
who heard his words, thought verily that such a contrived device
and so deep a reach as this never came from one that suspected
such a matter, but rather knew that it was so indeed; where-
upon they flocked round about, and hemmed him in, and on
every side each one had a saying unto him : And what art thou?
quoth one. From whence art thou? saith another. Here
comes one and asketh, who knew him? there sets upon him
another, saying: And how comest thou by the light of all this
that thou hast delivered ? to be short, they handled the matter
so well that they forced him to bewray himself in the end, and
to confess that he was one of them that committed the sacrilege.
Were not they also who murdered the poet Ibycus discovered
and taken after the same manner? It happened that the said
murderers were set at a theatre to behold the plays and pastimes
which were exhibited; and seeing a flight of cranes over their
heads, they whispered one to another: Lo, these be they that
will revenge the death of Ibycus. Now had not Ibycus been a
long time before seen, and much search was made after him,
because he was out of the way and missed; whereupon they
that sate next unto these men overhearing those words of
theirs, and well noting the speech, went directly to the magis-
trates and justices to give intelligence and information of their
words. Then were they attached and examined; and thus
being convicted, suffered punishment in the end, not by the
means of those cranes that they talked of, but surely by their
own blab- tongues ; as if some hellish fury had forced them to
disclose that murder which they had committed. For like as in
our bodies the members diseased and in pain draw humours
continually unto them, and all the corruption of the parts near
unto them flow thither; even so, the tongue of a babbling fellow,
being never without an inflammation and a feverous pulse,
draweth always and gathereth to it one secret and hidden thing
or other. In which regard it ought to be well sensed with a
rampart, and the bulwark of reason should evermore be set
against it, which like unto a bar may stay and stop that over-

264

Plutarch's Morals

flowing and inconstant lubricity which it hath; that we be not
more undiscreet and fooHsh beasts than geese are, who when
they be to take a flight into CiUcia over the mountain Taurus,
which is full of eagles, take up every one in their bill a good big
stone, which serveth them instead of a lock or bridle to restrain
their gaggling; by which device they may pass all night long
without any noise, and not be heard at all or descried by the
said eagles.

Now if one should demand and ask of me, what person of all
others is most mischievous and dangerous ? I believe very well
there is no man would name any other but a traitor. And yet
Euthycrates (as saith Demosthenes) by his treason covored his
own house with a roof made of timber that he had out of
Macedonia. Philocrates also lived richly and gallant of that
great mass of gold and silver which he had of King Philip for
betraying his country, and therewith furnished himself with
brave harlots, gallant concubines and dainty fishes. Euphorbius
also, and Philagrus, who betrayed Eretria, were endowed by the
king with fair lands and possessions: but a prattler is a traitor
voluntary and for nothing, he demandeth no hire at all, neither
looketh he to be solicited, but offereth himself and his service;
nor betrayeth unto the enemies either horses or walls, but
revealeth hidden secrets, and discloseth speeches which are to
be concealed, whether it be in judicial matters of law or in
seditious discords, or in managing of state affairs, it makes no
matter, and no man conneth him thanks; nay, he will think
himself beholden to others, if they will vouchsafe to give him
audience. And therefore, that which is commonly said to a
prodigal person, who foolishly mis-spendeth and vainly wasteth
his substance he cares not how, to gratify every man: Thou
art not liberal; this is no courtesy; a vice it is rather that thou
are disposed unto, thus to take pleasure in nothing, but giving
and giving still. The same rebuke and reprehension serveth
very fitly for a babbler: Thou art no friend nor well-wilier of
mine, thus to come and discover these things unto me; this is
thy fault, and a disease which thou art sick of, that lovest to be
clattering and hast no mind but of chatting.

Now would I have the reader to think that I write not all
this, so much to accuse and blame the vice and malady of
garrulity, as to cure and heal the same. For by judgment and
exercise we surmount and overcome the vices and passions of
the mind; but judgment, that is to say, knowledge, must go
before: for no man accustometh himself to void, and (as it

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 265

were), to weed them out of the soul, unless he hate and detest
them first. Now then, and never before, begin we to take an
hatred to vices, when by the light of reason we consider and
weigh the shame and loss that cometh unto us by them : as for
example, we know and see that these great praters, whiles they
desire to win love, gain hatred ; thinking to do a pleasure, they
displease; looking to be well esteemed, are mocked and derided;
they lay for lucre, and get nothing; they hurt their friends, aid
their enemies, and undo themselves.

So then, let this be the first receipt and medicine for to cure
this malady; even the consideration and reckoning up of the
shameful infamies and painful inconveniences that proceed and
ensue thereof. The second remedy is, to take a survey of the
contrary; that is to say, to hear always, to remember and have
ready at hand the praises and commendations of silence, the
majesty (I say), the mystical gravity and holiness of taciturnity,
to represent always unto our mind and understanding, how much
more admired, how much more loved, and how far wiser they
are reputed, who speak roundly at once, and in few words, their
mind pithily; who in a short and compendious speech com-
prehend more good matter and substance a great deal, than
these great talkers, whose tongues are unbridled and run at
random. Those (I say) be they whom Plato so highly esteemeth,
comparing them to skilful and well-practised archers and
darters, who have the feat of shooting arrows and lancing
darts; for they know how and when to speak graciously and
bitterly, soundly, pithily, and compactly. And verily, wise
Lycurgus framed and exercised his citizens immediately from
their childhood by keeping them down at the first with silence
to this short and sententious kind Of speech, whereby they
spake always compendiously, and knit up much in a little. For
like as they of Biskay or Celtiberia do make their steel of iron, by
entering it and letting it lie first within the ground, and then
by purging and refining it from the gross, terrene, and earthly
substance that it hath; even so the Laconians' speech hath no
outward bark (as a man would say) or crust upon it, but when
all the superfluity thereof is taken away, it is steeled (as it were)
and tempered, yea, and hath an edge upon it, fit for to work
withal and to pierce: and verily that apophthegmatical and
powerful speech of theirs, that grace which they had to answer
sententiously and with such gravity, together with a quick and
ready gift to meet at every turn with all objections, they attained
unto by nothing else but by their much silence.

266 Plutarch's Morals

Wherefore, it were very expedient to set ever before the eyes
of these great praters those short and witty speeches, that they
may see what grace and gravity both they have: as for example;
The Lacedaemonians unto Philip, greeting: Dionysius in Corinth.
Also another time, when Philip had written unto them to this
effect: If I enter once into the confines of Laconia, I will destroy
you utterly that you shall never rise again; they returned this
answer again in writing: AuKa; that is, If. Likewise when King
Demetrius in great displeasure and indignation cried out aloud
in these words : The Lacedcemonians have sent unto me an ambas-
sador alone, and who hath no fellow ; meaning that there came
but one: the said ambassador, nothing daunted at his words,
answered readily: One for one. Certes, they that used to speak
short and sententiously, were highly esteemed long ago with
our ancients and forefathers. And hereupon it was that the Am-
phictyons, that is to say, the deputies or states for the general
counsel of all Greece, gave order that there should be written
over the door of the Temple of Apollo Pythius, not the Odyssey
or Ilias of Homer, nor yet the canticles or paeans of Pindarus ;
but these brief sentences: TvdOi a-avrov, that is, Know thyself;
Mt^Scv ayav, that is, Too much of nothing; also 'Eyyva, -n-apa
S'ara, that is. Be surety and make account to pay: so highly
esteemed they a plain, simple, and round manner of speaking,
which comprised in few words much matter, and a sentence
massy and sound: and no marvel, for Apollo himself loveth
brevity, and is in his oracles very succinct and pithy; wherefore
else is he surnamed Loxias ? but because he chooseth rather to
avoid plurality than obscurity of words. They also who without
word uttered at all, signify the conceptions of their mind by
certain symbolical devices, and after that manner deliver good
lessons unto us; are they not sundry ways commended and
admired exceedingly? Thus Heraclitus in times past, being
requested by his neighbours and fellow-citizens to make a sen-
tentious speech unto them, and deliver his opinion as touching
civil unity and concord, mounted up into the pulpit, and taking
a cup of cold water in his hand, bespiced it (as it were) with
some meal, and with a sprig or two of the herb pennyroyal,
shook all together: which done, he drank it off, and so came
down and went his way: giving them by this demonstration
thus much to understand; that if men would take up with a
little and be content with things at hand, without desiring costly
superfluities, it were the next way to keep and preserve cities
in peace and concord.

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 267

Scylurus, a king of the Scythians, left behind him fourscore
sons; and when the hour of his death drew near, he called for
a bundle of darts or a sheaf of arrows to be brought unto him,
which he put into his children's hands one after another, and
willed each one to break and burst the same in pieces, bound
as it was entire and whole together: which when they had
assayed to do, and putting all their strength unto it, could not,
but gave over, himself took out of the sheaf or knitch the darts
aforesaid one by one, and knapt them in twain single as they
were with facility, declaring by this device, that so long as they
held together their union and agreement would be strong and
invincible; but their discord and disunion would make them
feeble, and be an occasion that they should not long continue.
He, then, that continually shall have these and such-like prece-
dents in his mouth, and ordinarily repeat and remember the
same, will peradventure take no great pleasure and delight in
idle and superfluous words. For mine own part, surely I am
abashed mightily at the example of that domestical servant at
Rome, when I consider with myself what a great matter it is
to be well advised before a man speaketh, and constantly to hold
and maintain the resolution of any purpose. Publius Piso, the
great orator and rhetorician, because he would provide that his
people and servitors about him should not trouble his head with
much prattle, gave order and commandment unto them, that
they should make answer unto his demands only, and no more :
now being minded one day to entertain Clodius, the chief ruler
of the city, at his house, he bade him to supper, and caused him
to be sent for and called at the time accordingly: for a stately
and royal feast he had provided, by all likelihood, and as any
man would think, no less: now when supper time was come, the
rest of the invited guests were present, Clodius only they stayed
and looked for; meanwhile, Piso had sent out oftentimes unto
him one of his servitors who was wont ordinarily to bid his
guests for to see whether he were coming, or would come to
supper or no ? but when it grew late in the evening, so that there
was no hope now that he would be there: Now, sirrah (quoth
Piso to his man aforesaid), didst thou not invite and bid him?
Yes iwis, sir: Why then comes he not? said the master again:
Forsooth (quoth he), because he denied to come: And why
toldest thou not me this immediately? Because, sir, you never
asked me the question. Well, this was a Roman servitor; but
an Athenian servant I trow, whiles he is digging and delving, will
tell his master news, and namely, what be the articles and

268 Plutarch's Morals

capitulations in the treaty and composition of peace. So power-
ful and forcible is use and custom in all things, whereof I purpose
now to treat; for that there is no bit nor bridle that is able to
repress, tame and keep in a talkative tongue, but it is custom
that must do the deed and conquer this malady.

First and foremost, therefore, when in company there shall
be any question propounded by them that are about thee,
frame and use thyself to hold thy tongue and be silent, until
thou see that every man else refuseth to speak and make answer:
for according to Sophocles :

To counsel and to run a course in race

Have not both twain one end, to haste apace.

No more verily doth a voice and an answer shoot at the same
mark that running aimeth at: for there, to wit, in a race, he
winneth the prize that getteth to be foremost; but here, if
another man have delivered a suflRcient answer, it will be well
enough, by praising and approving his speech, to gain the
opinion and reputation of a courteous person; if not, then will
it not be thought impertinent, neither can envy or hatred come
of it, in case a man do gently shew and open that wherein the
other was ignorant, and so after a mild and civil manner supply
the defect of the former answer: but above all, this regard
would be had: That when a question or demand is addressed
and directed unto another, we take it not upon ourselves ; and
so anticipate and prevent his answer; and peradventure, neither
in this nor in anything else, is it decent and commendable to
offer and put forth ourselves too forward before we be required ;
and in this case, when another man is asked a question, our
own intrusion, with the putting by of him, is not seemly; for
we may be thought (in so doing) both to injure and discredit
the party demanded, as if he were not able to perform that
which was put upon him, and also to reproach the demandant,
as though he had little skill and discretion, to ask a thing of him
who could not give the same: and that which more is, such
malapert boldness and heady hastiness in rash answering, im-
porteth (most of all) exceeding arrogancy and presumption;
for it seemeth, that he who taketh the answer out of his mouth
of whom the question is demanded, would say thus much in
effect: What need have we of him? what can he say unto it?
what skill or knowledge hath he? when I am in place, no man
ought to ask any other of these matters, but myself only. And
yet many times we propose questions unto some, not of any

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 269

great desire that we have to hear their answers, but only because
we would find talk, and minister occasion of discourse, seeking
thereby to draw from them some words that may yield matter
of mirth and pleasant conference: after which sort, Socrates
used to provoke Theaetetus and Charmides.

To prevent therefore the answer of another, to turn away
men's ears, to divert their eyes and draw their cogitations from
him to ourselves, is as much as if we should run before and
make haste to kiss one first, who was minded to be kissed of
another, or to enforce him to look upon us, whose eyes were set
and fixed upon another; considering, that although the party
unto whom the demand was made, be either not able nor willing
to make answer, it were befitting for a man, after some little
pause made, to present himself in all modesty and reverence,
and then to frame and accommodate his speech as near unto
that as may be, which he thinketh will content the mind of
him that made the demand, and so answer (as it were) in the
name of the other: for if they who are demanded a question
make no good and sufficient answer, great reason they have to
be pardoned and held excused; but he who intrudeth himself,
and taking the words out of another's mouth, is ready to speak
before he be spoken unto, by good right is odious, although he
answer otherwise sufficiently; but if he fail, and make no good
answer, certes he maketh himself ridiculous, and a very laughing-
stock to the whole company.

The second point of exercise and meditation is in a man's own
particular answers, wherein he ought especially to be careful and
take heed who is given to over-much talk, to the end that they
who would provoke him to speak, and all to make themselves
merry and to laugh at him, may well know that he answereth
not he knows not what inconsiderately, but with good advice
and seriously to the point: for such there be in the world, who
for no need at all, but only for to pass time in mirth, devise
certain questions for the nonce, and in that manner propound
them to such persons for no other end but to provoke them to
prattle ; and therefore they ought to have a good eye and regard
before them, not to leap out and run all on a sudden hastily to
their answer, as if they were well pleased and beholden unto
them for to have such an occasion of speech ; but with mature
deliberation to consider the nature and behaviour of him that
putteth out the question, together with the necessity thereof,
and the profit that may ensue thereby; and if it appear, indeed,
that the party be in good earnest, and desirous to learn and be

270 Plutarch's Morals

instructed, then he must accustom himself to repress his tongue
and take some pause, allowing a competent space of time between
the demand and the answer; during which silence, both the
demander may have while to bethink himself and add somewhat
thereto, if he list, and also the demande time to think of an answer,
and not let his tongue run before his wit, and so huddle up a con-
fused answer before the question be fully propounded : for often-
times it falleth out that for very haste they take no heed of those
things which were demanded, but answer kim-kam, and one
thing for another. True it is (I must needs say) that Pythia,
the priestess of Apollo's temple, is wont to give answer by oracle
at the same instant that the question is demanded, yea, and
oftentimes before it be asked; for why? the god whom she
serveth

Doth understand the dumb, who cannot speak.
And knows one's mind, before the tongue it break ;

but among men, he that would wisely and to the purpose answer,
ought to stay until he conceive the thought, and fully under-
stand the intent of him that proposeth a question, lest that
befall unto him which is said in the common proverb:

About an hook I question made,
And they gave answer of a spade ;

and otherwise also, if that inconvenience were not, yet are we
to bridle this lavish and hasty tongue of ours, and restrain the
inordinate and hungry appetite which we have to be talking;
lest it be thought that we had a flux (as it were) of humours
gathered a long time about the tongue, and grown into an
impostume, which we are very well content should be let out,
and have issue made by a question tendered unto us, and so
by that means be discharged thereof. Socrates was wont in
this manner to restrain and repress his thirst, after that he had
enchafed his body and set himself into an heat, either by
wrestling, or running, or such-like exercises; he would not
permit himself to drink before he had poured out the first bucket
of water that he had drawn out of the pit or well, acquainting
this his sensual appetite to attend the fit and convenient time
that reason appointed.

Moreover, this would be noted, that there be three kinds of
answers unto interrogations; the first necessary, the second
civil, and the third needless and superfluous: as, for example:
If one should ask whether Socrates be within or no; he that is
unwilling or not ready and forward with his tongue, would

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 271

make answer and say: He is not within, but if he be disposed
to laconise a little, and speak more brief, he would leave out the
word (within) and say: He is not; or yet more short than so,
pronouncing only the negative adverb, and saying no more but
No. Thus the Lacedaemonians dealt once by Philip ; for when
he had dispatched his letters unto them to this effect; To know
whether they would receive him into their city or no: they
wrote back again, in fair great capital letters, within a sheet
of paper, no more but OY, that is to say. No : and so sent it
unto him: but he that would make answer to the former
question of Socrates a little more civilly and courteously, would
say thus: He is not within, sir, for he is gone to the bank or
exchange; and to give yet a somewhat better measure, he
might perhaps add, moreover, and say; He looketh there for
certain strangers and friends of his. But a vain prating fellow,
and one that loves many words, especially if his hap hath been
to read the book of Antimachus the Colophonian, will make
answer to the demand aforesaid in this wise : He is not within,
sir, gone he is to the burse or exchange, for there he expecteth
certain strangers out of Ionia, of whom and in whose behalf
Alcibiades wrote unto him, who now maketh his abode within
the city of Miletus, sojoumeth with Tissaphernes, one of the
lieutenants-general of the great King of Persia; who before
time was in league with the Lacedaemonians, stood their friend,
and sent them aid; but not for the love of Alcibiades, he is
turned from them and is sided with the Athenians : for Alcibiades,
being desirous to return into his own country, hath prevailed
so much that he hath altered Tissaphernes his mind, and drawn
him away from our part: and thus shall you have him rehearse
in good earnest the whole eighth book (in manner) of Thucydides
his story, until he have overwhelmed a man with a multitude of
narrations, and made him believe that in Miletus there is some
great sedition; that it is ready to be lost, and Alcibiades to be
banished a second time.

Herein then ought a man principally to set his foot and stay
his overmuch language, so as the centre and circumference of
the answer be that which he who maketh the demand desireth
and hath need to know. Cameades, before he had any great
name, disputed one day in the public schools and place appointed
for exercise: unto whom the master or president of the place
sent beforehand, and gave him warning to moderate his voice
(for he spake naturally exceeding big and loud, so as the schools
rung again therewith); Give me, then (quoth he), a gauge and

272 Plutarch's Morals

measure for my voice; upon whom the said master replied thu^
not unproperly: Let him that disputeth with thee be the
measure and rule to moderate thy voice by; even so a man may
in this case say: The measure that he ought to keep who
answereth, is the very will and mind of him that proposeth the
question. Moreover, like as Socrates forbade those meats which
drew men on to eat when they are not hungry, and likewise
those drinks which caused them to drink who are not athirst,
even so should a man who is given to much prattle be afraid of
those discourses wherein he delighteth most, and which he is
wont to use and take greatest pleasure in; and in case he perceive
them to run willingly upon him for to withstand the same, and
not give them entertainment. As, for example, martial men
and warriors love to discourse and tell of battles ; which is the
reason that the poet Homer bringeth in Nestor^ eftsoons
recounting his own prowess and feats of arms : and ordinary it
is with them who in judicial trials have had the upper hand of
their adversaries, or who beyond the hope and opinion of every
man have obtained grace and favour with kings and princes,
to be subject unto this malady that evermore followeth them,
namely to report and recount eftsoons the manner how they
came in place; after what sort they were brought in; the order
of their pleading; how they argued the case ; how they convinced
their accusers, and overthrew their adversaries ; last of all, how
they were praised and commended : for to say a truth, joy and
mirth is much more talkative than that old Agrypnia which the
poets do feign and devise in their comedies: for it rouseth and
stirreth up, it reneweth and refresheth itself ever and anon,
with many discourses and narrations; whereupon ready they
are to fall into such speeches upon every light and colourable
occasion: for not only is it true which the common proverb
saith :

Look where a man doth feel his pain and grief.
His hand will soon be there to yield relief,

but also joy and contentment draweth unto it the voice, it
leadeth the tongue always about with it, and is evermore willing
to be remembered and related. Thus we see that amorous
lovers pass the greater part of their time in rehearsing certain
words which may renew the remembrance of their loves, inso-
much that if they cannot meet with one person or other to
relate the same unto, they will devise and talk of them with such
^ Hector, rather, as some read.

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 273

things as have neither sense nor Hfe : Hke as we read of one who
break forth into these words:

O dainty bed, most sweet and pleasant couch,

O blessed lamp, O happy candle light.
No less than God doth Bacchus you avouch.

Nay, God you are the mightiest in her sight.

And verily a busy prater is altogether (as one would say) a
white line or strake in regard of all words, to wit, without dis-
cretion he speaketh indifferently of all matters; howbeit if he
be affected more to some than to others, he ought to take heed
thereof, and abstain from them; he is (I say) to withdraw and
writhe himself from thence ; for that by reason of the content-
ment which he may therein take, and the pleasure that he
receiveth thereby, they may lead him wide and carry him every
while very far out of the way : the same inclination to overshoot
themselves in prating they find also when they discourse of those
matters wherein they suppose themselves to have better expe-
rience, and a more excellent habit than others: such an one, I
say, being a self-lover and ambitious withal:

Most part of all the day in this doth spend.
Himself to pass, and others to transcend.

As, for example, in histories if he hath read much; in artificial
style and couching of his words, he that is a grammarian; in
relation of strange reports and news, who hath been a great
traveller and wandered through many foreign countries : hereof
therefore great heed would be taken ; for garrulity being therein
fleshed and baited, willingly runneth to the old and usual haunt,
like as every beast seeketh out the ordinary and accustomed
pasture.

And in this point was the young prince Cyrus of a wonderful
and excellent nature, who would never challenge his play-
fellows and consorts in age unto any exercise wherein he knew
himself to be superior and to surpass, but always to such feats
wherein he was less practised than they; which he did as well
because he would not grieve their hearts in winning the prize
from them, as also for that he would profit thereby, and learn
to do that wherein he was more raw and unready than they.
But a talkative fellow contrariwise; if there be a matter pro-
Dosed whereby he may hear and learn somewhat that he knew
lot before, rejecteth and refuseth it; he cannot for his life hold
lis tongue and keep silence a little while, to gain thereby some
lire and reward, but casting and rolling his thought round about.

274 Plutarch's Morals

he never rests until he Hght upon some old ragged rhapsodies
and overworn discourses, which he hath patched and tacked
together a thousand times. Such a one there was among us,
who happened by chance to have perused two or three books of
Ephorus; whereby he took himself to be so great a clerk and
so well read, that he wearied every man's ears who heard him
talk; there was no assembly nor feast unto which he came, but
he would force the company to arise and depart with his un-
measurable prating of the battle of Leuctres, and the occurrents
that ensued thereupon, insomuch as he got himself a by-name,
and every man called him Epaminondas. But this is the least
inconvenience of all others that foUoweth this infirmity of much
babbling: and surely one good means it is to the cure thereof;
To turn the same from other matters to such as these: for
thereby shall their tongue be less troublesome and offensive
when it passeth the bonds in the terms only of literature.

Over and besides, for the remedy of this their disease, they
shall do well to inure and accustom themselves to write some-
what, and to dispute of questions apart. Thus did Antipater
the Stoic, who as it may be thought, being not able nor willing
to hold out in disputation hand to hand with Carneades, who
with a violent stream (as it were) of his forcible wit and eloquence
refuted the sect of the Stoics, answered the said Carneades by
writing, and filled whole books with contradictory assertions
and arguments against him; insomuch as thereupon he was
sumamed Calamoboas, which is as much to say, as the lusty
crier with his pen: and so by all likelihood this manner of
fighting with a shadow and loud exclaiming in secret, and apart
by themselves, training these stout praters every day by little
and little from the frequency and multitude of people, may
make them in the end more sociable and fitter for company.
Thus curst curs, after they have spent and discharged their choler
and anger upon the cudgels or stones which have been thrown
at them, become thereby more gentle and tractable to men.
But above all, it were very expedient and profitable for them
to be always near unto personages for years elder, and in
authority greater than themselves, and with those to converse;
for the reverent regard and fear that they have in respect of
their dignity and gravity, may induce and direct them in time
and by custom to keep silence; and evermore among those
exercises heretofore by us specified, this advisement would be
mingled and interlaced ; That when we are about to speak, and
that words be ready to run out of our mouth, we say thus unto

Intemperate Speech or Garrulity 275

ourselves by way of reasoning: What manner of speech is this-
that is so urgent and presseth so hard to be gone? What ails-
my tongue, that it is so willing to be walking? What good majr
come by the utterance thereof? What harm may ensue by^
concealing it in and holding my peace ? For we must not think
that our words be like an heavy burden over-loading us, and
whereof we should think ourselves well eased when we are dis-
charged of them: for speech remaineth still as well when it is-
uttered as before: but men ought to speak either in the behalf
of themselves when they stand in need of something, or to
benefit others, or else to pleasure and recreate one another by
pleasant devices and discourses (as it were), with salt to mitigate
the painful travails in actions and worldly affairs, or rather to
nake the same more savoury whiles we are employed therein.

Now if a speech be neither profitable to him that delivereth
t, nor necessary for him that heareth it, nor yet carry therewith
iny grace or pleasure; what need is there that it should be
ittered ? For surely, a man may as soon speak a word in vain^
IS do a thing to no purpose. But above and after all other good
. idvertisements in this case, we ought always to have in readiness.
; md remembrance this wise saying of Simonides : A man (quoth
i le) may repent many a time for words spoken, but never for a
' /ord kept in : this also we must think : That exercise is all in
i .11, and a matter of that moment and eflScacy, that it is able ta
1 laster and conquer everything: considering that men will take
{ Teat pains and be careful ; yea, they will endure much sorrow
1 3r to be rid of an old cough ; to chase away the troublesome
^ ex or hicket. Besides, taciturnity hath not only this one fair
1 roperty and good virtue, that (as Hippocrates saith) it never
1 reedeth thirst; but also that it engendereth no pain, no grief
1 or displeasure, neither is any man bound to render an account
t lereof .

OF AVARICE OR COVETOUSNESS

THE SUMMARY

[If there be any excess in the world that troubleth the repose and
tranquilUty of the spirit, causing our life to be wretched and
miserable, it is avarice; against which the sages and wise men of
all ages from time to time have framed sharp and terrible invectives,
which in sum and effect do shew thus much ; That this covetousness
and greedy desire of gathering goods is (as it were) the capital city
and seat-town of all wickedness ; the very sink of sin and receptacle
of all vices. Now albeit all men with one voice, yea, and the most
covetous persons of all others do confess as much, yet the heart of
man is so affectionate a friend to the earth, that needful it is to
propose and set down divers instructions for to avert the same from
thence, and to cause it to range and sort with other occupations and
affairs, more beseeming itself than is the over-curious searching after
transitory and corruptible things. This is the reason that those
philosophers who have handled the doctrine as touching manners
are employed herein: and Plutarch among the rest, who teacheth
us here in few words with what considerations we ought to be
furnished and fortified, that we do not permit such a pestilent plague
as this to seize upon our souls: and therewith he sheweth the
miseries that befall unto avarice; whereof this is the first and
principal; That instead of giving contentment, it maketh her slave
most wretched, and putteth him to the greatest pain and torture in
the world. And hereupon he interlaceth and inserteth a description
of three sorts of covetous persons. First, of those who covet things
rare and dangerous, whereas they should seek after necessaries.
Secondly, of such as spend nothing, have much, and yet desire more
and more ; and these he depainteth in all their colours. Thirdly, of
them that be niggards and base-minded pinch-pennies. Which
done, he discovereth the second misery of covetous wretches, to
wit; That avarice doth tyrannise over her caitiff and slave, not
suffering him to use that which she commanded him to win and get.
The third is this ; That it causeth him to gather and heap up riches,
for some promoter or catch-poll, or else for a tyrant, or else for some
wicked and graceless heir, whose nature and properties he doth
represent and describe very lively. Afterwards having concluded
that covetous persons are herein especially miserable; for that the
one sort of them use not their goods at all, and other abuse the
same: he prescribeth three remedies against this mischievous
malady. The first; That those who greedily gape after riches,
have no more in effect than they who stand contented with that
which is necessary for nature. The second; That we are not to

276

Of Avarice or Covetousness 277

count them happy who be richly furnished with things unprofitable.
And the last; That it is virtue wherein we ought to ground and
seek for contentment ; for there it is to be found and not in riches.]

Hippo MACHUS, a great master of wrestling and such exercises of
the body, hearing some to praise a certain tall man, high of
stature, and having long arms and hands, commending him for
a singular champion, and fit to fight at buffets : A proper fellow
he were (quoth he) if the garland or prize of the victory were
hung on high, for to be reached with the hand; semblably it
may be said unto them who esteem so highly and repute it a
great felicity to be possessed of much fair lands, to have many
great and stately houses, to be furnished with mighty masses
and sums of money, in case felicity were to be bought and sold
for coin. And yet a man shall see many in the world, chuse
rather to be rich and wretched withal, than to give their silver
for to be happy and blessed : but surely it is not silver nor gold
that can purchase either repose of spirit void of grief and
anguish, or magnanimity, nor yet settled constancy and resolu-
tion, confidence, and suffisance, or contentment with our own
estate. Be a man never so rich, he cannot skill thereby to
contemn riches, no more than the possession of more than
enough worketh this in us; That we want not still, and desire
even things that be superfluous. What other evil and malady
then doth our wealth and riches rid us from, if it delivereth us
not from avarice ? By drink men quench their thirst, by meat
they slake their hunger. And he that said :

Give Hipponax a cloak to keep him warm,
For cold extreme I shake, and may take harm,

if there were many clothes hung or cast upon him, would be

offended therewith and fling them from him; but this their

strong desire and love of money, it is neither silver nor gold that

is able to quench: and let a man have never so much, yet he

coveteth nevertheless to have more still. And well it may be

verified of riches which one said sometime to an ignorant and

deceitful physician:

Your drugs and salves augment my sore.
They make me sicker than before.

For riches verily, after that men have once met therewith
whereas before they stood in need of bread, of a competent
louse to put their heads in, of mean raiment, and any viands
;hat come next hand), fill them now with an impatient desire
)f gold, silver, ivory, emeralds, horses, and hounds, changing

278 Plutarch's Morals

and transporting their natural appetite of things needful and
necessary, into a disordinate lust to things dangerous, rare, hard
to be gotten, and unprofitable when they be had. For never is
any man poor in regard of such things as suffice nature ; never
doth he take up money upon usury for to buy himself meat,
cheese, bread, or olives; but one indebteth himself for to build
a sumptuous and stately house; another runs in debt because
he would purchase a grove of olive trees that joineth to his own
land; one is engaged deeply in the usurer's books, by laying
corn-grounds and wheat-fields to his own domains, another
because he would be possessed of fruitful vineyards; some are
indebted with buying mules of Galatia, and others, because they
would be masters

' Of lusty steeds, to win the prize

• . By running in a race,

With rattling noise of empty coach.
When it is drawn apace,

have cast themselves into the bottomless gulf of obligations,
conditions, covenants, interests, statutes, real gages, and pawns:
and afterwards it cometh to pass that like as they who drink
when they be not dry, and eat without a stomach, many times
cast up by vomit even that which they did eat and drink when
they were hungry and thirsty; even so, when they will needs
have such things as be superfluous and to no use, do not enjoy
the benefit of those things that are needful and necessary indeed.
Lo, what kind of people these be !

As for those who are at no cost, nor will lay out anything,
and notwithstanding they have much, yet ever covet more; a
man may rather marvel and wonder at them, if he would but
remember that which Aristippus was wont to say: He that
eateth much (quoth he) and drinketh likewise much, and is never
satisfied nor full, goeth to the physicians, asketh their opinion
what his disease and strange indisposition of the body might be,
and withal craveth their counsel for the cure and remedy
thereof: but if one who hath five fair bedsteads already with the
furniture thereto belonging, and seeketh to make them ten ; and
having ten tables with their cupboards of plate, will needs buy
ten more; and for all that he is possessed of fair manors and
goodly lands, have his bags and coffers full of money, is never the
better satisfied, but still gapeth after more, breaketh his sleeps,
devising and casting as he lieth awake how to compass the same,
and when he hath all, yet is he not full; such an one (I say) never
thinks that he hath need of a physician to cure his malady or

Of Avarice or Covetousness 279

to discourse unto him, from what cause all this doth proceed.
And verily a man may look, that of those who are thirsty
■ordinarily, he that hath not drunk will be delivered of his thirst
so soon as he meeteth with drink; but in case such an one as
-evermore drinketh and poureth in still, never giving over, yet
nevertheless continueth dry and thirsty, we judge him to have
no need of repletion, but rather of purging and evacuation;
him (I say) we appoint for to vomit, as being not troubled and
distempered upon any want, but with some extraordinary heat
or unkind acrimonies of humours that be within him; even so
it is with those that seek to get and gather goods: he that is
bare and poor indeed, will haply give over seeking so soon as he
hath got him an house to dwell in, or found some treasure, or met
with a good friend to help him to a sum of money to make clear
with the usurer, and to be crossed out of his book : but he that
hath already more than enough and sufficient, and yet craveth
more, surely it is neither gold nor silver that will cure him,
neither horses, nor sheep, nor yet beeves will serve his turn;
need had he of purgation and evacuation, for poverty is not his
disease, but covetousness and an unsatiable desire of riches,
proceeding from false judgment and a corrupt opinion that he
hath, which if a man do not rid away out of his mind, as a
winding gulf or whirlpool that is cross and overthwart in their
way, they will never cease to hunt after superfluities, and seem
to stand in need thereof, (that is to say) to covet those things
which they know not what to do with. When a physician
Cometh into the chamber of a patient, whom he findeth lying
along in his bed groaning, and refusing all food, he taketh him
by the hand, feeleth his pulse, asketh him certain questions, and
finding that he hath no ague; This is a disease (quoth he) of
the mind, and so goeth his way; even so, when we see a worldly-
minded man altogether set upon his gets and gains, pining away,
and even consumed with the greedy worm of gathering good,
weeping, whining, and sighing at expenses, and when any money
is to go out of his purse, sticking at no pain and trouble, sparing
for no indignity, no unhonest and indirect means whatsoever,
Qor caring which way he goes to work, whether it be by hook or
2rook, so that he may gain and profit thereby; having choice of
"louses and tenements, lands lying in every countr)', droves,
lerds, and flocks of cattle, a number of slaves, wardrobes of
ipparel and clothes of all sorts : what shall we say that this man
s sick of, unless it be the poverty of the soul ?
As for want of money and goods, one friend (as Menander

28o Plutarch's Morals

saith) may cure and help with his bountiful hand; but that

penury and neediness of the soul all the men in the world, that

either live at this day or ever were beforetime, are not able to

satisfy and suffice: and therefore of such Solon said very well:

No limit set, nor certain bound, men have
Of their desire to goods, but still they crave.

For those who are wise and of sound judgment are content with

that measure and portion which nature hath set down and

assigned for them; such men know an end, and keep themselves

within the centre and circumference of their need and necessity

only. But this is a peculiar property that avarice hath by itself.

For a covetous desire it is, even repugnant to satiety, and

hindereth itself that it never can have sufficient, whereas all

other desires and lusts are aiding and helpful thereto. For no

man (I trow) that is a glutton forbeareth to eat a good morsel

of meat for gormandise, nor drunkard abstaineth from drinking

wine upon an appetite and love that he hath to wine, as these

covetous wretches do, who spare their money and will not touch

it, through a desire only that they have of money. And how

can we otherwise think, but it were a piteous and lamentable

case, yea and a disease next cousin to mere madness, if a man

should therefore spare the wearing of a garment, because he is

ready to chill and quake for cold, or forbear to touch bread, for

that he is almost hunger-starved; and even so not to handle

his goods because he loveth them: certes, such a one is in the

same plight and piteous perplexity that Thrasonides was, who

in a certain comedy describeth his own miseries:

At home it is within my power,

I may enjoy it every hour:

I wish a thing as if I were

In raging love, yet I forbear:

When I have lock'd and seal'd up all,

Or else put forth by count and tale.

My coin to brokers for the use.

Or other factors whom I chuse,

I plod and plonder still for more,

I hunt, I seek to fetch in store,

I chide and brawl with servants mine.

The husbandman and eke the hine

I bring to count; and then anon

My debtors all I call upon:

By Dan Apollo now I swear.

Was any man that earth did bear.

Whom thou hast ever known or seen.

In love more wretched to have been?

Sophocles being on a time demanded familiarly by one of his
friends, whether he could yet keep company with a woman if

Of Avarice or Covetousness 281

need were: God bless me (quoth he), my good friend, talk no
more of that, I pray you, I am free from those matters long since,
and by the benefit of mine old age, I have escaped the servitude
of such violent and furious mistresses. And verily it is a good
and gracious gift, that our lusts and appetites should end
together with our strength and ability, especially in those
delights and pleasures which, as Alcaeus saith, neither man nor
woman can well avoid. But this is not to be found in avarice
and desire of riches ; for she, like a curst, sharp, and shrewd
quean, forceth indeed a man to get and gather, but she forbiddeth
him withal to use and enjoy the same; she stirreth up and
provoketh his lust, but she denieth him all pleasure. I remem-
ber that in old time Stratonicus taxed and mocked the Rhodians
for their wasteful and superfluous expenses in this manner:
They build sumptuously (quoth he), as if they were immortal
and should never die; but they fare at their boards as though
they had but a small while to live. But these covetous misers
gather wealth together like mighty magnificoes, but they spend
like beggarly mechanicals ; they endure the pain and travail of
getting, and taste no pleasure of the enjoying.

Demades the orator came one day to visit Phocion, and

found him at dinner; but seeing but a little meat before him

upon the table, and the same nothing fine and dainty, but

coarse and simple: I marvel (quoth he), O Phocion, how you

can take up with so short a dinner and so small a pittance,

considering the pains you do endure in managing the affairs of

state and commonwealth. As for Demades, he dealt indeed

with government, and was a great man in the city with the

people, but it was all for his belly, and to furnish a plentiful

board, insomuch as, supposing that the city of Athens could not

yield him revenue and provision sufficient for to maintain his

excessive gormandise, he laid for cates and victuals out of

Vlacedon, whereupon Antipater, when he saw him an old man

A^ith a wrinkled and withered face, said pleasantly: That he

lad nothing left now but his paunch and his tongue, much like

into a sheep, or some other beast killed for sacrifice when all is

iaten besides. But thou, most unhappy and wretched miser,

vho would not make a wonder at thee, considering that thou

;anst lead so base and beggarly a life, without society of men

)r courtesy to thy neighbours, not giving ought to any person,

hewing no kindness to thy friends, no bounty nor magnificence

o the commonwealth, yet still doth afflict thy poor self, lie

. wake all the night long, toil and moil like a drudge and hireling

282 Plutarch's Morals

thyself, hire other labourers for day-wages, lie in the wind for
inheritances, speak men fair in hope to be their heir, and debase
thyself to all the world, and care not to whom thou cap and knee
for gain, having, I say, so sufficient means otherwise to live at
ease (to wit, thy niggardise and pinching parsimony), whereby
thou mayst be dispensed for doing just nothing. It is reported
of a certain Byzantine, who finding an adulterer in bed with his
wife, who though she were but foul, yet was ill-favoured enough,
said unto him: 0 miserable caitiff, what necessity hath driven
thee thus to do? what needs Sapragoras dowry? well, go to:
thou takest great pains, poor wretch, thou fiUest and stirrest the
lead, thou kindlest the fire also underneath it.

Necessary it is in some sort that kings and princes should
seek for wealth and riches, that these governors also and deputies
under them should be great gatherers, yea, and those also who
reach at the highest places and aspire to rule and sovereign
dignities in great states and cities; all these (I say) have need
perforce to heap up gross sums of money, to the end that for
their ambition, their proud port, pomp, and vain-glorious
humour, they might make sumptuous feasts, give largesses,
retain a guard about their persons, send presents abroad to
other states, maintain and wage whole armies, buy slaves to
combat and fight at sharp to the outrance: but thou makest
thyself so much ado, thou troublest and tormentest both body
and mind, living like an oyster or a shell-snail, and for to pinch
and spare art content to undergo and endure all pain and travail,
taking no pleasure nor delight in the world afterwards, no more
than the bain-keeper's poor ass, which carrying billets and
faggots of dry brush and sticks to kindle fire and to heat the
stouphs, is evermore full of smoke, soot, ashes and cinders; but
hath no benefit at all of the bain, and is never bathed, washed,
warmed, rubbed, scoured and made clean. Thus much I speak
in reproach and disdain of this miserable ass-like avarice, this
base raping and scraping together in manner of ants or
pismires.

Now there is another kind of covetousness more savage and
beast-like, which they profess who backbite and slander, raise
malicious imputations, forge false wills and testaments, lie in
wait for heritages, cog and cozen, and intermeddle in all matters,
will be seen in everything, know all men's states, busy them-
selves with many cares and troubles, count upon their fingers
how many friends they have yet living, and when they have
all done, receive no fruition or benefit by all the goods which

Of Avarice or Covetousness 283

they have gotten together from all parts, with their cunning
casts and subtle shifts. And therefore, like as we have in
greater hatred and detestation, vipers, the venomous flies
cantharides, and the stinging spiders called philangia and
tarantale, than either bears or lions, for that they kill folk and
sting them to death; but receive no good or benefit at all by
them when they are dead; even so be these wretches more
odious and worthy to be hated of us, who by their miserable
parsimony and pinching do mischief, than those who by their
riot and wastefulness be hurtful to a commonweal, because they
take and catch from others that which they themselves neither
will nor know how to use. Whereupon it is that such as these,
when they have gotten abundance, and are in manner full, rest
them for a while, and do no more violence as it were in time of
truce and surcease of hostility; much after the manner as
Demosthenes said unto them who thought that Demades had
given over all his lewdness and knavery : 0 (quoth he), you see
him now full as lions are, who when they have filled their bellies,
prey no more for the lice until they be hungry again : but such
covetous wretches as be employed in government of civil affairs,
and that for no profit nor pleasure at all which they intend,
those, I say, never rest nor make holiday, they allow themselves
no truce nor cessation from gathering and heaping more together
still, as being evermore empty, and have always need of all
things though they have all.

But some man perhaps will say: These men (I assure you)
do save and lay up goods in store for their children and heirs
after their death, unto whom whiles they live they will part
with nothing: If that be so, I can compare them very well to
those mice and cats in gold mines, which feed upon the gold ore,
and lick up all the golden sand that the mines yield, so that men
cannot come by the gold there before they be dead and cut up
in manner of anatomies. But tell me (I pray you) wherefore are
these so willing to treasure up so much money and so great
substance, and leave the same to their children, inheritors and
successors after them? I verily believe to this end, that those
children and heirs also of theirs should keep the same still for
others likewise, and so to pass from hand to hand by descent
of many degrees; like as earthen conduct-pipes, by which
water is conveyed into some cistern, withhold and retain none of
all the water that passeth through them, but do transmit and
send all away from them, each one to that which is next, and
-eserve none to themselves ; thus do they until some arise from

284

Plutarch's Morals

without, a mere stranger to the house, one that is a sycophant or
very tyrant, who shall cut off this keeper of that great stock and
treasure, and when he hath dispatched and made a hand of him,
drive and turn the course of all this wealth and riches out of the
usual channel another way; or at leastwise until it fall into the
hands (as commonly men say it doth) of the most wicked and
ungracious imp of that race, who will disperse and scatter that
which others have gathered, who will consume and devour
all unthriftily which his predecessors have gotten and spared
wickedly: for not only as Euripides saith:

Those children wasteful prove and bad,
Who servile slaves for parents had,

but also covetous carls and pinching penny-fathers leave children
behind them that be loose and riotous and spendthrifts; like
as Diogenes by way of mockery said upon a time : That it were
better to be a Megarian's ram than his son: for wherein they
would seem to instruct and inform their children, they spoil and
mar them clean, ingrafting into their hearts a desire and love
of money, teaching them to be covetous and base-minded
pinch-pennies, laying the foundation (as it were) in their heirs of
some strong place or fort, wherein they may surely guard and
keep their inheritance.

And what good lessons and precepts be these which they
teach them: Gain and spare, my son, get and save; think with
thyself and make thine account that thou shalt be esteemed in
the world according to thy wealth and not otherwise. But
surely this not to instruct a child, but rather to knit up fast
or sew up the mouth of a purse that it may hold and keep the
better whatsoever is put into it. This only is the difference, that
a purse or money-bag becometh foul, sullied and ill-savouring
after that silver is put into it; but the children of covetous
persons, before they receive their patrimonies or attain to any
riches, are filled already even by their fathers with avarice, and
a hungry desire after their substance: and verily such children
thus nurtured, reward their parents again for their schooling
with a condign salary and recompense, in that they love them
not because they shall receive much one day by them, but hate
them rather for that they have nothing from them in present
possession already, for having learned this lesson of them; To
esteem nothing in the world in comparison of wealth and riches,
and to aim at nought else in the whole course of their life, but
to gather a deal of goods together, they repute the lives of their

Of Avarice or Covetousness 285

parents to be a block in their way, they wish in heart that their
heads were well laid, they do what they can to shorten their
lives, making this reckoning; That how much time is added to
their old age, so much they lose of their youthful years. And
this is the reason why during the life of their fathers, secretly and
underhand they steal (after a sort, by snatches) their pleasure,
and enjoy the same; they will make semblance as if it came
from other, when they give away money and distribute it among
their friends, or otherwise spend it in their delights ; whiles they
catch it privily from under the very wing of their parents, and
when they go to hear and take out their lessons, they will be
sure to pick their purses if they can, before they go away; but
after their parents be dead and gone, when they have gotten
into their hands the keys of their coffers and signets of their
bags, then the case is altered, and they enter into another course
ind fashion of life : you shall have my young masters then put
)n a grave and austere countenance, they will not seem to laugh,
lor be spoken to, or acquainted with anybody; there is no talk
low of anointing the body for any exercise, the racket is cast
iside, the tennis court no more haunted, no wrestling practised,
10 going to the schools either of the Academy or Lyceum, tO'
lear the lectures and disputations of professors and philosophers.
3ut now the officers and servants be called to an audit and
iccount; now they are examined what they have under their
'. lands ; now the writings, bills, obligations, and deeds are sought
"ip and perused; now they fall to argue and reason with their
eceivers, stewards, factors, and debtors; so sharp-set they are
o their negotiations and affairs ; so full of cares and business
■ hat they have no leisure to take their dinners or noon meals ;
i nd if they sup, they cannot intend to go into the bain or hot-
1 ouse before it be late in the night; the bodily exercises wherein
1 hey were brought up and trained in be laid down ; no swimming^
1 or bathing any more in the river Dirce; all such matters be
( ast behind and clean forgotten. Now if a man say to one of
1 lese : Will you go and hear such a philosopher read a lecture,
( r make a sermon? How can I go? (will he say again) I have no
A hile since my father's death. 0 miserable and wretched man,
\ hat hath he left unto thee of all his goods comparable to that
^ hich he hath bereaved thee of, to wit, repose and liberty:
I at it is not thy father so much, as his riches flowing round about
t lee, that environeth and compasseth thee so, as it hath gotten
t le mastery over thee; this hath set foot upon thy throaty

286 Plutarch's Morals

this hath conquered thee; like unto that shrewd wife in
Hesiodus,

Who burns a man without a match

Or brand of scorching fire.
And driveth him to gray old age

Before that time require,

■causing thy soul (as it were) to be full of rivels and hoary hairs
before time, bringing with it carking cares and tedious travels
proceeding from the love of money, and a world of affairs without
any repose, whereby that alacrity, cheerfulness, worship, and
sociable courtesy which ought to be in a man are decayed and
faded clean to nothing.

But what mean you, sir, by all this ? (will some one haply say
unto me). See you not how there be some that bestow their
wealth liberally with credit and reputation? Unto whom I
answer thus : Have you never heard what Aristotle said ? That
-as some there are who have no use at all of their goods, so there
be others who abuse the same; as if he should say: Neither
the one nor other was seemly and as it ought to be: for as those
;get neither profit nor honour by their riches, so these sustain
loss and shame thereby. But let us consider a little what is the
oise of these riches which are thus much esteemed: Is it not (I
■pray you) to have those things which are necessary for nature.?
but these who are so rich and wealthy above the rest, what
have they more to content nature than those who live in a mean
and competent estate .'* Certes, riches (as Theophrastus saith) is
jiot so great a matter that we should love and admire it so much,
if it be true that Callias, the wealthiest person in all Athens, and
Ismenias, the richest citizen of Thebes, use the same things that
Socrates and Epaminondas did. For like as Agathon banished
the flute, comet, and such other pipes from the solemn feasts
of men, and sent them to women in their solemnities, supposing
that the discourses of men who are present at the table are
suflicient to entertain mirth; even so may he as well rid away
out of houses, hangings, coverlets and carpets of purple, costly
and sumptuous tables, and all such superfluities, who seeth that
the great rich worldlings use the very same liiat poorer men
do. I would not as Hesiodus saith:

That plough or helm should hang in smoke to dry.
Or painful tillage now be laid aside,
Nor works of ox and mule for ever die,
Who serve our turns to draw, to till, to ride;

Of Avarice or Covetousness 287

but rather that these goldsmiths, turners, gravers, perfumers,
and cooks would be chased and sent away, forasmuch as this
were indeed an honest and civil banishment of unprofitable
artificers as foreigners that may be spared out of a city.
Now if it be so, that things requisite for the necessity of nature
be common as well to the poor as the rich, and that riches do
vaunt and stand so much upon nothing else but superfluities,
and that Scopas the Thessalian is worthily commended in this;
that being requested to give away and part with somewhat of
his household stuff which he might spare and had no need of:
Why (quoth he), in what things else consisteth the felicity of
those who are reputed happy and fortunate in this world above
other men, but in these superfluities that you seem to ask at
my hands, and not in such as be necessary and requisite? If
it be so, I say, see that you be not like unto him that praiseth
a pomp and solemn shew of plays and games more than life
indeed, which standeth upon things necessary. The procession
and solemnity of the Bacchanals which was exhibited in our
country, was wont in old time to be performed after a plain
and homely manner, merrily and with great joy: You should
have seen there one carrying a little barrel of wine, another a
branch of a vine tree ; after him comes one drawing and plucking
after him a goat; then followeth another with a basket of dried
figs ; and last of all one that bare in shew phallus, that is to say,
the resemblance of the genital member of a man : but nowadays
ill these ceremonies are despised, neglected, and in manner not
it all to be seen, such a train there is of those that carry vessels
)f gold and silver, so many sumptuous and costly robes, such
tately chariots richly set out are driven and drawn with brave
teeds most gallantly dight, besides the pageants, dumb-shews
Jid masks, that they hide and obscure the ancient and true
)omp according to the first institution ; and even so it is in
: iches ; the things that be necessary and serve for use and profit
i re overwhelmed and covered with needless toys and superfluous
• unities, and I assure you the most part of us be like unto young
' 'elemachus, who for want of knowledge and experience, or
1 ither indeed for default of judgment and discretion, when he
1 eheld Nestor's house furnished with beds, tables, hangings,
t ipestry, apparel, and well provided also of sweet and pleasant
^ ines, never reckoned the master of the house happy for having
s ) good provision of such necessary and profitable things : but
I sing in Menelaus his house, and seeing there store of ivory,
g )ld and silver, and the metal electrum, he was ravished and

288 Plutarch's Morals

in an ecstasy with admiration thereof, and brake out in these
words :

Like unto this, the palace all

Within I judge to be,
Of Jupiter, that mighty god.

Who dwells in azure sky:
How rich, how fair, how infinite

Are all things which I see!
My heart, as I do them behold,

Is ravish'd wondrously.

But Socrates or Diogenes would have said thus rather:

How many wretched things are here?

How needless all and vain?
When I them view, I laugh thereat,

Of them I am not fain.

And what sayst thou^ foohsh and vain sot as thou art ? Whereas
thou shouldest have taken from thy very wife her purple, her
jewels and gaudy ornaments, to the end that she might no more
long for such superfluity, nor run a madding after foreign
vanities, far fetched and dear bought; dost thou contrariwise
■embellish and adorn thy house, like a theatre, scaffold and stage
to make a goodly sight for those that come into the shew-place ?
Lo, wherein lieth the felicity and happiness that riches bringeth,
making a trim shew before those who gaze upon them, and to
testify and report to others what they have seen : set this aside
{that they be not shewed to all the world) there is nothing at all
therein to reckon. But it is not so with temperance, with
philosophy, with the true knowledge of the gods, so far forth as
is meet and behoveful to be known, for these are the same still
and all one, although every man attain not thereto but all others
be ignorant thereof. This piety (I say) and religion hath always
■a, great light of her own and resplendent beams proper to itself,
wherewith it doth shine in the soul, evermore accompanied with
a certain joy that never ceaseth to take contentment in her own
good within, whether any one see it or no, whether it be un-
icnown to gods and men or no, it skilleth not. Of this kind and
nature is virtue indeed, and truth, the beauty also of the
mathematical sciences, to wit, geometry and astrology; unto
which who will think that the gorgeous trappings and caparisons,
the brooches, collars and carkans of riches are any ways com-
parable, which (to say a truth) are no better than jewels and
ornaments good to trim young brides and set out maidens for
to be seen and looked at? For riches, if no man do regard,
behold, and set their eyes on them (to say a truth), is a blind

Of Avarice or Covetousness 289

thing of itself, and sendeth no light at all nor rays from it; for
certainly say that a rich man dine and sup privately alone, or
with his wife and some inward and familiar friends, he troubleth
not himself about furnishing of his table with many services,
dainty dishes, and festival fare ; he stands not so much upon his
golden cups and goblets, but useth those things that be ordinary,
which go about every day and come next hand, as well vessel
as viands ; his wife sits by his side and bears him company, not
decked and hung with jewels and spangles of gold, not arrayed
in purple, but in plain attire and simply clad; but when he
makes a feast, (that is to say) sets out a theatre wherein the
pomps and shews are to meet and make a jangling noise together,
when the plays are to be represented of his riches, and the
solemn train thereof to be brought in place ; then comes abroad
his brave furniture indeed; then he fetcheth out of the ship
his fair chaufers and goodly pots; then bringeth he forth his
rich three-footed tables; then come abroad the lamps, candle-
sticks and branches of silver; the lights are disposed in order
about the cups; the cup-bearers, skinkers and tasters are
changed ; all places are newly dight and covered ; all things are
then stirred and removed that saw no sun long before; the
silver plate, the golden vessels, and those that be set and
enriched with precious stones; to conclude, now there is no shew
else but of riches; at such a time they confess themselves and
will be known wealthy. But all this while, whether a rich man
sup alone, or make a feast, temperance is away and true con-
tentment.

OF THE NATURAL LOVE OR KINDNESS
OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN

■ ,y (U,>f.jnKKi in;: -

"■' '■'' '^ THE SUMMARY

[Wisely said one (whosoever it was), That to banish amity and
friendship from among men were as great hurt to the society of
mankind as to deprive them of the light and heat of the sun : which
being verified and found true in the whole course of this life, and in
the maintenance of all estates ; not without great cause nature hath
cast and sprinkled the seed thereof in the generation and nourish-
ment of a race and lineage, whereof she giveth evident testimonies
in brute besists, the better to move and incite us to our duty.
That we may see, therefore, this precious seed and grain of amity,
how it doth flower and fructify in the world, we must begin at the
love and natural kindness of fathers and mothers to their children:
for if this be well kept and maintained, there proceed from it an
infinite number of contentments which do much assuage and ease
the inconveniences and discommodities of our life. And Plutarch,
entering into this matter, sheweth first in generality: That men
learn (as it were) in the school of brute beasts, with what affection
they should beget, nourish, and bring up their children; afterward
he doth particulcirise thereof, and enrich the same argument by
divers examples. But for that he would not have us think that he
extolled dumb beasts above man and woman, he observeth and
setteth down very well the difference that is of amities, discoursing in
good and modest terms as touching the generation and nouriture of
children, and briefly by the way representeth unto us the miserable
entrance of man into this race upon earth, where he is to run his
course. Which done, he proveth that the nourishing of infants
hath no other cause and reason but the love of fathers and mothers ;
he discovereth the source of this affection; and for a conclusion,
sheweth that what defect and fault soever may come between and
be meddled among, yet it cannot altogether abolish the same.]

That which moved the Greeks at first to put over the decision
of their controversies to foreign judges, and to bring into their
country strangers to be their umpires, was the distrust and
diffidence that they had one in another, as if they confessed
thereby that justice was indeed a thing necessary for man's life,
but it grew not among them: And is not the case even so as
touching certain questions disputable in philosophy? for the
determining whereof philosophers (by reason of the sundry and

290

The Natural Love of Parents 291

divers opinions which are among them) have appealed to the
nature of brute beasts, as it were into a strange city, and
remitted the deciding thereof to their properties and affections,
according to kind, as being neither subject to partial favour,
nor yet corrupt, depraved, and polluted. Now surely a common
reproach this must needs be to man's naughty nature and lewd
behaviour; That when we are in doubtful question concerning
the greatest and most necessary points pertaining to this present
life of ours, we should go and search into the nature of horses,
dogs, and birds for resolution ; namely, how we ought to make
our marriages, how to get children, and how to rear and nourish
them after they be born, and as if there were no sign (in manner)
or token of nature imprinted in ourselves, we must be fain to
allege the passions, properties, and affections of brute beasts,
and to produce them for witnesses, to argue and prove how
much in our life we transgress and go aside from the rule of
nature, when at our first beginning and entrance into this
world, we find such trouble, disorder, and confusion; for in those
dumb beasts beforesaid, nature doth retain and keep that which
is her own and proper, simple, entire, without corruption or
alteration by any strange mixture; whereas contrariwise, it
seemeth that the nature of man, by discourse of their reason
and custom together, is mingled and confused with so many
extravagant opinions and judgments, set from all parts abroad
(much like unto oil that cometh into perfumers' hands), that
thereby it is become manifold variable, and in every one several
and particular, and doth not retain that which the own indeed,
proper and peculiar to itself; neither ought we to think it a
strange matter and a wonderful that brute beasts, void of
reason, should come nearer unto nature, and follow her steps
better, than men endued with the gift of reason : for surely the
very senseless plants herein surpass those beasts beforesaid, and
observe better the instinct of nature ; for considering that they
aeither conceive anything by imagination, nor have any motion,
iffection or inclination at all, so verily their appetite (such as
t is) varieth not nor stirreth to and fro out of the compass of
lature, by means whereof they continue and abide as if they
vere kept in and bound within close prison, holding on still in
)ne and the same course, and not stepping once out of that way
vherein nature doth lead and conduct them : as for beasts, they
lave not any such great portion of reason to temper and mollify
heir natural properties, neither any great subtlety of sense and
' onceit, nor much desire of liberty; but having many instincts,

2g2 Plutarch's Morals

inclinations, and appetites, not ruled by reason, they break out
by the means thereof otherwhiles, wandering astray, and running
up and down, to and fro, howbeit, for the most part, not very
far out of order, but they take sure hold of nature; much like
a ship which lieth in the road at anchor, well may she dance and
be rocked up and down, but she is not carried away into the
deep at the pleasure of winds and waves; or much after the
manner of an ass or hackney, travelling with bit and bridle,
which go not out of the right and straight way, wherein the
master or rider guideth them; whereas in man, even reason
herself, the mistress that ruleth and commandeth all, findeth
out new cuts (as it were) and by-ways, making many starts and
excursions at her pleasure to and fro, now here, now there;
whereupon it is that she leaveth no plain and apparent print of
nature's tracks and footing.

Consider, I pray you, in the first place the marriages (if I may
so term them) of dumb beasts and reasonless creatures; and
namely how therein they follow precisely the rule and direction
of nature. To begin withal; they stand not upon those laws
that provide against such as marry not, but lead a single life;
neither make they reckoning of the acts which lay a penalty
upon those that be late ere they enter into wedlock, like as the
citizens under Lycurgus and Solon, who stood in awe of the said
statutes; they fear not to incur the infamy which followed those
persons that were barren and never had children; neither do
they regard and seek after the honours and prerogatives which
they attained who were fathers of three children, like as many
of the Romans do at this day, who enter into the state of
matrimony, wed wives and beget children, not to the end that
they might have heirs to inherit their lands and goods, but that
they might themselves be inheritors and capable of dignities and
immunities. But to proceed unto more particulars, the male
afterwards doth deal with the female in the act of generation
not at all times; for that the end of their conjunction and
going together is not gross pleasure so much as the engendering
of young and the propagation of their kind : and therefore at a
certain season of the year, to wit, the very prime of the spring,
when as the pleasant winds so apt for generation do gently blow,
and the temperature of the air is friendly unto breeders, cometh
the female full lovingly and kindly toward her fellow the male,
even of her own accord and motion (as it were), trained by the
hand of that secret instinct and desire in nature; and for her
own part, she doth what she can to woo and solicit him to

The Natural Love of Parents 293

regard her, as well by the sweet scent of her flesh as also by a
special and peculiar ornament and beauty of her body, shewing
herself fresh and cheerful, full of dew and verdure of green
herbs, pure and neat, I warrant you; in this manner doth she
present herself unto the male and courteth him: now when she
perceives once that she is sped and hath conceived by him, she
leaveth him and retireth apart in good sort full decently; and
then her whole care is to provide for that which she goeth
withal, forecasting how to be delivered of it in due time, and
bethinking how to save, preserve and rear it when it is fallen
and brought forth. And certes, it is not possible to express
sufficiently and worthily the particulars that are done by these
dumb creatures (but only this, that everything proceedeth from
the tender love and affection which they have to their young
ones) in providence, in patience, in abstinence.

We all acknowledge the bee to be wise, we call her so, we

celebrate her name for producing and working so diligently that

yellow honey, yea, and we flatter in praising her, feeling as we

do the sweetness of the said honey, how it tickleth and con-

tenteth our tongue and taste; and all this while what one is

there of us that maketh any account of the wisdom, wit, and

artificial subtlety that other creatures shew, as well in the

bringing forth their young as the fostering and nouriture of

them? for first and foremost do but consider the sea-bird

called alcyon, no sooner doth she perceive herself to be knit

with egg but she falleth presently to build her nest, she gathereth

together the chine-bones of a certain sea-fish which the Greeks

:all fieXovrj, that is to say, the sea-needle; these she coucheth,

jlaiteth, windeth and interlaceth one within another, so

irtificially working the same and weaving them close together

n a round and large form, after the manner of a fisher's leap or

veel net; and when she hath knit and fortified the same exactly

vith many courses of the said bones driven and united jointly

ogether in good order, she exposeth it full against inundation

-nd dashing of the sea waves, to the end that the superficial

' lUtside of the work, beaten upon gently and by little and little

nth. the water, being thickened and felted thereby, might be

Jiore solid and firm, and so it proveth indeed; for so hard it

} roweth by this means that scarcely any stone can crush it, or

( dged instrument of iron cleave it; but that which is yet more

' 'onderful, the mouth and entry of the said nest is composed

{ nd wrought proportionably just to the measure and bigness of

t \e bird alcyon aforesaid, so as no creature bigger or less than

294 Plutarch's Morals

herself, no nor the very sea (as men say) nor the least thing in
the world can get into it. And will you see, moreover, what
kindness and natural affection the sea-weesils or sea-dogs do
shew unto their little ones ? They breed their young whelps or
kitlings alive within their bellies, and when they list, let them
forth and suffer them to run abroad for relief and to get their
food, and afterwards receive them into their bodies again, en-
closing them whiles they be asleep themselves, cherishing them
couched in their bowels and womb. The she-bear, a most fell,
savage and cruel beast, bringeth forth her young whelps without
form or fashion, unknit and unjointed, having no distinct limbs
or members to be seen ; howbeit with her tongue, as it were with
a tool and instrument for the purpose, she keepeth such a licking
of them, she formeth and fashioneth those membranes wherein
they were lapped in her womb, in such sort that she seemeth not
only to have brought forth her young, but also to have wrought
them afterwards workman-like to their shape and proportion.
As for that lion which Homer describeth in this wise:

Who leading forth his tender whelps

To seek abroad for prey
In forest wild ; no sooner meets

With hunters in the way,
But looking stern with bended brows

Which cover both his eyes,
He makes a stand, and them affronts

In fierce and threat'ning wise:

think you not by this description that he resembleth one who
is bent to capitulate and stand upon terms of composition with
the hunters for to save the life of his httle ones? To speak
in a word, this tender love and affection of beasts toward their
young maketh them that otherwise be timorous, hardy and
bold; those that be slow and idle by nature, laborious and
painful; and such as of themselves are greedy and ravenous, to
be spare and temperate in their feeding, like as the bird whereof
the same Homer speaketh:

Which brings in mouth unto her nest,

Such food as she abroad
Could get to feed her naked young,

And doth herself defraud.

For content she is even with her own hunger to nourish her
little ones, and the same food or bait that she hath for them,
being so near as it is unto her own craw and gesier, she holdeth
close and fast in her bill, for fear lest she might swallow it down
the throat ere she were aware:

The Natural Love of Parents 295

Or like the bitch running about

Her young whelps, at the sight
Of strangers, bays and barks apace,

And ready is to fight.

No doubt the fear which she hath lest her little one should take
harm redoubleth her courage, and maketh her more hardy and
angry than before : as for the partridges, when they be laid for
by the fowler, together with their covey of young birds, they
suffer them to fly away as well as they can, and make shift to
save themselves, but the old rowens full subtilly seem to wait
the coming of the said hunters, abiding until they approach
near unto them, and by keeping about their feet, train them
still away after them, ready ever as it were to be caught; now
when the fowler shall seem to reach unto them with his hand,
they will run a little or take a short flight from him, and then
they stay again, putting him in new hope of his prey and booty,
which every foot he thinketh to take with his hand: thus they
play mock-holiday with the fowlers, and yet with some danger
to themselves for the safety of their young, until they have
trained them a great way off, who sought for their lives. Our
hens which we keep about our houses so ordinarily, and have
daily in our eyes, how carefully do they look unto their young
chickens whiles they receive some under their wings, which they
spread and hold open for the nonce that they may creep in,
others they suffer to mount upon their backs, gently giving them
leave to climb and get up on every side, and this they do not
without great joy and contentment, which they testify by a
kind of clocking and special noise that they make at such a time ;
if when they be alone without their chickens, and have no fear
but for themselves, a dog or a serpent come in their way, they
fly from them ; let their brood be about them when such a danger
is presented, it is wonderful how ready they will be to defend
the same, yea, and to fight for them, even above their power.

Do we think now that nature hath imprinted such affections
ind passions in these living creatures, for the great care that
she hath to maintain the race and posterity (as it were) of hens,
iogs, or bears; or do we not rather make this construction of
t, that she shameth, pricketh, and woundeth men thereby when
/vt reason and discourse thus within ourselves, that these things
3e good examples for as many as follow them, and the reproaches
)f those that have no sense or feeling of natural affection; by
vhich no doubt they do blame and accuse the nature of man
)nly, as if she alone were not affectionate without some hire

296

Plutarch's Morals

and reward, nor could skill of love but for gain and profit? for
admired he was in the theatres that thus spake first:

For hope of gain one man will love another.
Take it away, what one will love his brother?

This is the reason (according to the opinion and doctrine of
Epicurus) that the father affecteth his son, the mother is tender
over her child, and children likewise are kind unto their parents :
but set case that brute beasts could both speak and understand
language, in some open theatre, and that one called to meet
together a sufficient assembly of beeves, horses, dogs and fowls,
certes, if their voices were demanded upon this point now in
question, he would set down in writing and openly pronounce,
that neither bitches loved their whelps, nor mares their foals,
hens their chickens, and other fowls their little birds in respect
of any reward, but freely and by the instinct of nature: and
this would be found a true verdict of his, justified and verified
by all those passions and affections which are observed in them :
and what a shame and infamy unto mankind is this to grant
and avouch, that the act of generation in brute beasts, their
conception, their breeding, their painful delivery of their young,
and the careful feeding and cherishing of them, be nature's
works merely, and duties of gratuity; and contrariwise that in
men they be pawns given them for security of interest, hires,
gages, and earnest pennies respective to some profit and gain
which they draw after them ? But surely as this project is not
true, so it is not worth the hearing, for nature verily as in savage
plants and trees, to wit, wild vines, wild fig-trees, and wild
olives, she doth ingenerate certain raw and unperfect rudiments
(such as they be) of good and kind fruits ; so she hath created in
brute beasts a natural love and affection to their young, though
the same be not absolute nor fully answerable to the rule of
justice, nor yet able to pass farther than the bonds and limits
of necessity.

As for man, a living creature, endued and adorned with reason,
created and made for a civil society, whom she hath brought
into the world for to observe laws and justice, to serve, honour
and worship the gods, to found cities and govern common-
wealths, and therein to exercise and perform all offices of
bounty: him she hath bestowed upon noble, generous, fair and
fruitful seeds of all these things, to wit, a kind love and tender
affection toward his children ; and these she followeth still, and
persisteth therein, which she infused together with the first

The Natural Love of Parents 297

principles and elements that went to the frame of his body and
soul: for nature being every way perfect and exquisite, and
namely in this inbred love toward infants, wherein there
wanteth nothing that is necessary, neither from it is ought to be
taken away as superfluous; It hath nothing (as Erasistratus
was wont to say) vain, frivolous, and unprofitable, nothing
inconstant, and shaking to and fro, inclining now one way, and
then another. For in the first place, as touching the generation
of man, who is able to express her prudence sufficiently ? neither
haply may it stand with the rule of decent modesty to be over-
curious and exquisite in delivering the proper names and terms
thereto belonging: for those natural parts serving in that act of
generation and conception, secret as they be and hidden, so they
neither can well nor would willingly be named, but the com-
position and framing thereof, so aptly made for the purpose,
the disposition and situation likewise so convenient, we ought
rather to conceive in our mind than utter in speech.

Leaving therefore those privy members to our private
thoughts, pass we to the confection, disposition and distribution
of the milk, which is sufficient to shew most evidently her
providence, industry, and diligence; for the superfluous portion
of blood which remaineth in a woman's body, over and above
that which serveth for the use whereunto it is ordained, floating
up and down within her afterwards, for defect or feebleness of
spirits wandereth (as it were) to and fro, and is a burden to her
body; but at certain set times and days, to wit, in every
monthly revolution, nature is careful and diligent to open
certain sluices and conducts, by which the said superfluous
blood doth void and pass away, whereupon she doth not only
purge and lighten all the body besides, but also cleanseth the
matrice, and maketh it like a piece of ground brought in order
and temper, apt to receive the plough, and desirous of the seed
after it in due season: now when it hath once conceived and
retained the said seed, so as the same take root and be knit,
presently it draweth itself straight and close together round,
and holdeth the conception within it; for the navel (as Demo-
critus saith) being the first thing framed within the matrice,
and serving instead of an anchor against the waving and wan-
dering of it to and fro, holdeth sure the fruit conceived, which
both now groweth and hereafter is to be delivered (as it were)
by a sure cable and strong bough, then also it stoppeth and
shutteth up the said riverets and passages of those monthly
purgations; and taking the foresaid blood, which otherwise

20S Plutarch's Morals

would run and void by those pipes and conducts, it maketh use
thereof for to nourish, and (as it were) to water the infant, which
beginneth by this time to take some consistence and receive
shape and form, so long, until a certain number of days which
are necessary for the full growth thereof within be expired; at
which time it had need to remove from thence for a kind of
nutriment elsewhere in another place; and then diverting the
said course of blood with all dexterity and a skilful hand (no
gardener nor fountainer in drawing of his trenches and channels
with all his cunning so artificial), and employing it from one
use to another, she hath certain cisterns (as it were) or fountain-
heads prepared of purpose from a running source most ready
to receive that liquor of blood quickly, and not without some
sense of pleasure and contentment; but withal, when it is
received, they have a power and faculty, by a mild heat of the
natural spirits within them, and with a delicate and feminine
tenderness, to concoct, digest, change and convert it into
another nature and quality, for that the paps have within them
naturally the like temperature and disposition answerable unto
it: now these teats which spout out milk from the cocks of a
conduct, are so framed and disposed that it fioweth not forth
all at once, neither do they send it away suddenly: but nature
hath so placed the dug, that as it endeth one way in a spongeous
kind of flesh full of small pipes, and made of purpose to transmit
the milk, and let it distil gently by many little pores and secret
passages, so it yieldeth a nipple in manner of a faucet, very fit
and ready for the little babe's mouth, about which to nuzzle
and nudgel with its pretty lips it taketh pleasure, and loveth to
be tugging and lugging of it; but to no purpose and without
any fruit or profit at all had nature provided such tools and
instruments for to engender and bring forth a child ; to no end
(I say) had she taken so good order, used so great industry,
diligence and forecast, if withal she had not imprinted in the
heart of mothers a wonderful love and affection, yea, and an
extraordinary care over the fruit of their womb, when it is bom
into the world : for

Of creatures all which breathe and walk

Upon the earth in sight,
None is there wretched more than man

New born into this light.

And whosoever saith thus of a young infant newly coming forth
of the mother's womb, maketh no lie at all, but speaketh truth;
for nothing is there so imperfect, so indigent and poor, so naked.

The Natural Love of Parents 299

so deformed, so foul and impure, than is man to see to presently
upon his birth, considering that to him (in manner alone) nature
hath not given so much as a clean passage and way into this
light; so furred he is all over and polluted with blood, so full
of filth and ordure, when he entereth into the world, resembling
rather a creature fresh killed and slain than newly bom; that
nobody is willing to touch, to take up, to handle, dandle, kiss
and clip it, but such as by nature are led to love it : and therefore,
whereas in all other living creatures nature hath provided that
their udders and paps should be set beneath under their bellies,
in a woman only she hath seated them aloft in her breasts, as a
very proper and convenient place, where she may more readily
kiss, embrace, coll and huggle her babe while it sucketh;
willing thereby to let us understand that the end of breeding,
bearing and rearing children is not gain and profit, but pure
love and mere affection. Now, if you would see this more
plainly proved unto you, propose (if you please) and call to
remembrance the women and men both in the old world whose
hap was either first to bear children, or to see an infant newly
born; there was no law then to command and compel them to
nourish and bring up their young babes, no hope at all of
reciprocal pleasure or thanks at their hands that induced them;
no expectance of reward and recompense another day to be
paid from them, as due debt for their care, pains, and cost about
them : nay, if you go to that, I might say rather : That mothers
had some reason to deal hardly with their young infants, and to
bear in mind the injuries that they have done them, in that
they endured such dangers and so great pains for them :

As namely, when the painful throes

As sharp as any dart,
In travail pinch a woman near,

And pierce her to the heart :
Which midwives, Jimo's daughters then.

Do put her to, poor wretch.
With many a pang, when with their hand

They make her body stretch.

But our women say; It was never Homerus (surely) who wrote
this, but Homeris rather: that is to say, some poetess or
woman of his poetical vein, who had been herself at such a
business, and felt the dolorous pangs of childbirth, or else was
even then in labour, and upon the point to be delivered, feeling
a mixture of bitter and sharp throes in her back, belly and flanks,
when she poured out these verses: but yet, for all the sorrow
and dear bargain that a mother hath of it, this kind and natural

300 Plutarch's Morals

love doth still so bend, incline and lead her, that notwithstanding
she be in a heat still upon her travail, full of pains and after-
throes, panting, trembling, and shaking for very anguish, yet she
neglecteth not her sweet babe, nor windeth or shrinketh away
from it; but she turneth toward it, she maketh to it, she smileth
and laugheth upon it, she taketh it into her arms, she huggleth
it in her bosom, and kisseth it full kindly : neither all this whiles
gathereth she any fruits of pleasure or profit, but painfully (God
wot) and carefully

She laps it then in rags full soft,
With swaddling bands she wraps it oft.
By turns she cools and keeps it warm,
Loth is she that it should take harm:
And thus as well by night as day,
Pains after pains she taketh ay.

Now tell me (I pray you) what reward, recompense, and profit
do women reap for all this trouble and painful hand about their
little ones ? None at all (surely) for the present, and as little in
future expectance another day, considering their hopes are so
far off, and the same so uncertain. The husbandman that
diggeth and laboureth about his vine at the equinox in the
spring, presseth grapes out of it and maketh his vintage at the
equinox of the autumn. He that soweth his corn when the stars
called Pleiades do couch and go down, reapeth and hath his
harvest afterwards when they rise and appear again; kine
calve, mares foal, hens hatch, and soon after there cometh profit
of their calves, their colts and their chickens: but the rearing
and education of a man is laborious, his growth is very slow and
late; and whereas long it is ere he cometh to prove and make
any shew of virtue, commonly most fathers die before that day.
Neocles lived not to see the noble victory before Salanus that
Themistocles his son achieved : neither saw Miltiades the happy
day wherein Simon his son won the field at the famous battle
near the river Eurynidon: Xantippus was not so happy as to
hear Pericles his son out of the pulpit preaching and making
orations to the people; neither was it the good fortune of Ariston
to be at any of his son Plato's lectures and disputations in
philosophy: the fathers of Euripides and Sophocles, two re-
nowned poets, never knew of the victories which they obtained
for pronouncing and rehearsing their tragedies in open theatre,
they might hear them peradventure when they were little ones
to stammer, to lisp, to spell and put syllables together, or to
speak broken Greek, and that was all. But ordinary it is

The Natural Love of Parents 301

that men live to see, hear, and know when their children fall
to gaming, revelling, masking, and banqueting, to drunkenness,
wanton love, whoring, and such-like misdemeanours. So as in
these regards this one mot of Euenus in an epigram of his,
deserveth to be praised and remembered :

See how great pains all fathers undergo,
What daily griefs their children put them to.

And yet for all this, fathers cease not still to nourish and bring
up children, and such most of all who stand least in need of
their children another day; for a mere mockery it were and a
ridiculous thing, if a man should suppose that rich and wealthy
men do sacrifice unto the gods, and make great joy at the
nativity and birth of their children, because that one day they
shall feed and sustain them in their old age, and inter them
after they be dead ; unless perhaps it may be said, they rejoice
thus and be so glad to have and bring up children, for that
otherwise they should leave none heirs behind them; as who
would say, it were so hard a matter to find out and meet with
those that would be willing to inherit the lands and goods of
strangers. Certes, the sands of the sea, the little motes in the
sun raised of dust, the feathers of birds together with their
variable notes, be not so many in number as there be men that
gape after heritages, and be ready to succeed others in their
livings. Danaus (who, as they say, was the father of fifty
daughters), if his fortune had been to be childless, I doubt not
but he should have had more heirs than so to have parted his
goods and state among them, and those verily after another sort
than the heirs of his own body. For children yield their parents
no thanks at all for being their inheritors, neither in regard
thereof do they any service, duty or honour unto them; for
why? they expect and look for the inheritance as a thing due
and of right belonging unto them: but contrariwise you hear
how those strangers that hang and hunt about a man who hath
no children, much like to those in the comedies, singing this
song:

0 sir, no wight shall do you any harm,

1 will revenge your wrongs and quarrels ay:

Hold here, three halfpence good to keep you warm.
Purse it, drink it, sing woe and care away.

As for that which Euripides saith:

These worldly goods prociure men friends to chuse,
And credit most, who then will them refuse,

302 Plutarch's Morals

it is not simply and generally true, unless it be to those as have
no children; for such indeed are sure to be invited and feasted
by the rich ; lords and rulers will make court and be serviceable
to such ; for them great orators and advocates will plead at the
bar without fee, and give their counsel gratis :

How mighty is a rich man with each one.
So long as his next heir is known to none !

whereas you shall see many in the world, who beforetime having
a number of friends and honour enough, and no sooner had a
little child born unto them, but they lost all their friends, credit,
and reputation at once, so that by this reckoning the having
of children maketh nothing at all to the authority of their
parents, so that in regard thereof it is not that they do so love
their children; but surely the cause of this their kindness and
affection proceedeth altogether from nature, and appeareth no
less in mankind than in wild beasts: Howbeit otherwhiles this
natural love, as well as many other good qualities in men, are
blemished and obscured by occasion of vice that buddeth up
afterwards; like as we see wild briars, bushes and brambles to
spring up and grow among good and kind seeds, for otherwise
we might as well collect and say that men love not themselves
because many cut their own throats, or wilfully fall down head-
long from steep rocks and high places. For QEdipus

With bloody hand his own eyelids did force.
And plucked out his eyes upon remorse.

Hegesias, disputing and discoursing upon a time of abstinence,
caused many of his auditors and scholars to pine themselves to
death:

Such accidents of many sorts there be.
Permitted by the gods we daily see.

But all of them, like as those other passions and maladies of
the mind before named, transport a man out of his own nature,
and put him beside himself, so as they testify against them-
selves that this is true, and that they do amiss herein; for if
a sow having farrowed a little pig, devour it when she hath done,
or a bitch chance to tear in pieces a puppy or whelp of her own
litter, presently men are amazed at the sight thereof, and
wonderfully affrighted, whereupon they sacrifice unto the gods
certain expiatory sacrifices, for to divert the sinister presages
thereof, as taking it to be a prodigious wonder, and confessing
thereby that it is a property given to all living creatures, even
by the instinct and institution of nature, to love, foster and

The Natural Love of Parents 303

cherish the fruit of their own bodies: so far is it from them to
destroy the same. And yet, notwithstanding her corruption and
depravation in this behalf: Like as in mines, the gold (although
it be mixed with much clay, and furred all over with earth)
shineth and glittereth through the same, and is to be seen afar
off; even so nature, amid the most depravate manners and
corrupt passions that we have, sheweth a certain love and tender
affection to little ones. To conclude, whereas the poor many
times make no care at all to nourish and rear up their children,
it is for nothing else but because they fear lest having not so
good bringing up nor so civil education as they ought, they
should prove servile in behaviour, untaught, unmannerly, rude,
and void of all good parts ; and judging (as they do) poverty to
be the extremity of all miseries that can befall to man, their
heart will not serve them to leave unto their children this
hereditary calamity, as a most grievous and dangerous disease.

OF THE PLURALITY OF FRIENDS

THE SUMMARY

[In certain discourses going before, it appeareth what a benefit
and good thing friendship is. And now Plutarch addeth thereto a
certain correction very necessary in regard of our nature, which is
given always to bend unto extremities, and not able long to hold
the golden mean. Like as therefore it bewrayeth a miserable,
wretched and cursed mind to be desirous for to lead a life without
acquaintance and familiarity with any person; even so to make
friends (as they say) hand over head and upon every occasion is
peradventure impossible, but surely not expedient. Our author,
therefore, willing to reform this disordinate affection that is in
many, who because they would have a number of friends, oftentimes
have not one assured, sheweth that it is far better for a man to get
one fast and faithful friend than a great multitude of whom he
cannot make any certain account; propounding as a remedy for
this covetous mind of entertaining such a plurality of friends, the
examples of those who are contented with few, and by that means
think their estate more sure and steadfast. After this, he treateth
of the choice of friends, but especially of one. Then discourseth he
of that which is requisite in true friendship, annexing thereto many
proper and apt similitudes, which represent as well the benefit that
sincere affection bringeth, as the hurt which cometh of feigned and
counterfeit amity. This done, he proveth that to entertain a
number of friends is a very hard matter, yea, and impossible; for
that a man is not able to converse with them, nor to frame and sort
with tnem all, but that he shall procure himself enemies on all sides:
and when he hath enriched and adorned the same with notable
examples, he proceedeth to describe what use a man is to make of
friendship, and with what sort and • condition of men he ought to
join in amity: but this is the conclusion; That an honest and
virtuous man cannot quit himself well and perform his devoir unto
many friends at once.]

Socrates upon a time demanded of Menon the Thessalian^ who
was esteemed very sufficient in all literature, and a great school-
man, exercised in long practice of disputations, and named to be
one (as Empedocles saith) who had attained to the very height
and perfection of wisdom and learning, what virtue was; and
when he had answered readily and boldly enough in this wise:
There is a virtue (quoth he) of a young child, and of an old gray-
beard; of a man, and of a woman; of a magistrate, and of a

304

Of the Plurality of Friends 305

private person; of a master, and of a servant: I con you thank
(quoth Socrates again, replying unto him), you have done it
very well: I asked you but of one virtue, and you have raised
and let fly a whole swarm (as it were) of virtues, guessing and
collecting not amiss by such an answer that this deep clerk, who
had named thus many virtues, knew not so much as one. And
might not a man seem to scorn and mock us well enough, who
having not yet gotten one friendship and amity certain, are
afraid (forsooth) lest ere we be aware, we fall into a multitude
and plurality of friends: for this were even as much as if one
that is maimed and stark blind should fear to become either
Briareus the giant, with an hundred arms and hands, or Argus,
who had eyes all over his body. And yet we praise and com-
mend excessively and beyond all measure the young man in
Menander, when he saith:

Of all the goods which I do hold,
To think each one (I would be bold)
Right wonderful, if I might find
The shadow only of a friend.

But certainly this is one cause among many others, and the
same not the least, that we cannot be possessed of any one
assured amity, because we covet to have so many much like unto
these common strumpets and harlots, who for that they prosti-
tute their bodies so often and to so many men, cannot make any
reckoning to hold and retain any one paramour or lover fast
and sure unto them ; for that the first comers, seeing themselves
neglected and cast off by the entertainment of new, retire and
fall away from them, and seek elsewhere ; or rather, much after
the manner of that foster-child ^ of Lady Hypsipyle :

Who being set in meadow green
With pleasant flowers all fair beseen.
One after other cropp'd them still,
Hunting this game with right goodwill:
For why, his heart took great content
In their gay hue and sweety scent:
So little wit and small discretion
The infant had, and no repletion ; *

jven so every one of us for the desire of novelty, and upon a
satiety and fulness of that which is present and in hand, suffereth
limself ever to be carried away with a new-come friend that is

^ Opheltes or Archemorus.

* vqiriov SiXfyqcrTov ix^" '• '^^ vfiirioy dTrXrjiXTov ix'^'' '• ^s it is read
■Isewhere.

3o6 Plutarch's Morals /

fresh and flowering ; which fickle and inconstant affection causetn
us to change often and to begin many friendships and finish
none ; to enter still into new amities and bring none to perfection;
and for the love of the new which we pursue and seek after, we
pass by that which we held already and let it go.

To begin then first and foremost at antiquity (as it were) from
the goddess Vesta (according to the old proverb), let us examine
and consider the common fame of man's life which hath been
delivered unto us from hand to hand time out of mind, by the
succession and progress of so many ages from the old world unto
this day, and take the same for a witness and counsellor both in
this matter, we shall find in all the years past these only couples
and pairs of renowned friends, to wit, Theseus and Pirithous;
Achilles and Patroclus; Orestes and Pylades; Pythias and
Damon; Epaminondas and Pelopidas. For friendship is indeed
(as I may so say) one of these cattle that love company and
desire to feed and pasture with fellows; but it cannot abide
herds and droves, it may not away with these great flocks, as
jays, daws and choughs do. And whereas it is commonly said
and thought, that a friend is another own self, and men give unto
him the name of 'iralpo's or eVapos in Greek, as if a man would
say, erepos, that is, such another: what implieth all this, but that
friendship should be reduced within the measure and compass
of the dual number, that is, of twain. Well, this is certain, we
can buy neither many slaves nor purchase many friends with a
small piece of coin : but what may be this piece of money that will
fetch friends ? Surely, kind affection or goodwill, and a lovely
grace joined with virtue, things, I may tell you, so rare, as look
throughout the world and the whole course of nature, you shall
find nothing more geason. No marvel, then, if it be impossible
either to love many or to be loved of many, perfectly and in the
height of affection. But like as great rivers, if they be divided
into many channels, and cut into sundry riverets, carry but an
ebb water, and run with no strong stream; even so a vehement
and affectionate love planted in the mind, if it be parted many
and divers ways, becometh enervate and feeble, and cometh in
manner to nothing. This is the reason in nature that those
creatures which bring forth but one and no more, love their
young more tenderly and entirely than others do theirs. Homer
also, when he would signify a child most dearly beloved, calleth
it fiovvov TrjkvyeTov, that is to say, only begotten and toward old
age, to wit, when the parents have no more between them, nor
ever are like or do look to have another: for mine own part, I

Of the Plurality of Friends 307

would not desire to have that fiovvov, that is to say, one friend,
and no more ; but surely, I could wish that with other he were
TTjXvyeTO's, yea, and oiplyovos, that is to say, long and late first
ere he be gotten, like as a son which is born toward the latter
days of his parents, yea, and such a one as (who according to
that proverb so common in every man's mouth) hath eaten with
me a measure of salt. And are not many nowadays called
friends? what else? if they have but drunk once together at
the tavern, or met in the tennis court, or else turned into a
tabling - house, and played at dice and hazard one with the
other, or haply light in company at one hostelry and lodged
together, and in one word, they do contract and gather friends
in this manner out of common inns, wrestling-places and ordinary
walks in the markets or public galleries. And verily, the
common sort, when they see every morning in the houses of rich
men and mighty rulers a great multitude and concourse of people,
ivith much ado and hurry, giving attendance there to salute
:hem and bid them good-morrow, kissing their right hands, and
jlad if they may touch them, accompanying them in manner of
I guard when they go out of their lodging; oh, they imagine and
•epute such potentates wondrous happy, as being furnished with
;uch numbers of friends; and yet surely, as many as they be,
hey shall see more flies ordinarily in their kitchens : and to say a
roth, like as these flies will be gone if no cates and viands be
: tirring, so these friends will tarry no longer than gain and
] )rofit is to be gotten.

Certes, true and perfect friendship requireth these three
hings especially; Virtue, as being honest and commendable;
fiociety, which is pleasant and delectable; and Profit, which is
1 eedful and necessary : for a man must admit and receive a
J riend upon judgment and after trial made, he ought to delight
{ nd joy in his company, and he is to make use of him as occasion
i jrveth : all which three are contrary unto plurality of friends,
1 ut especially that which is principal, to wit, judgment upon a
t -ial : and to prove this to be true, see first and foremost
\ hether it be possible in a small time to make proof and trial
c f singing men or quiristers, that they may keep a good consent
£ ad harmony together in their song; or to make choice of oar-
r len, who shall agree in their rowing, to rise and fall with their
c irs just together; or of household servants such as we purpose
t ) make the bailiffs and stewards of our goods, or the governors
a id bringers-up of our children ? much more unlikely then is it,
t lat we should have proof of many friends in a little space who

3o8 Plutarch's Morals

will be ready to enter the trial with us of all manner of fortune,
and of whom every one will be prest and willing :

Of his welfare to yield even part to thee.
And bear like part of thy calamity.

For neither is a ship shot or haled into the sea against so many
storms and tempests ; nor men do set and pitch so many stakes
in a palisado for the defence of any place; or in havens raise
banks and oppose dams against the like dangers, or in fear of
so many perils, as friendship promiseth succour and refuge for,
if it be founded surely and aright upon good proof and sufficient
experience. As for such as before trial and experiment made
do intrude themselves, coming and going for friends, such, when
they be put to the trial and touch indeed, and then found like
evil money, counterfeit or light, they that go without them be
glad in their mind, and as many as have them wish with all
their heart and pray to God for to be rid of them. But surely
this is a troublesome and cumbrous thing, neither is it an easy
matter to void and cast off such a friendship as this, so dis-
pleasant and offensive : for Uke as if some kind of bad meat do
trouble and offend the stomach, a man can neither retain and
hold it still, but it will put him to pain and breed hurt and
corruption, nor yet put it off and send it out in such sort as it
went in, but all filthy and loathsome, as being furred over with
slime, and mixed confusedly with other humours, and wholly
altered from the former state; even so an ill friend either
tarrieth with us still to his own grief and ours both, or else away
he goeth perforce with evil will, malice and enmity, like bitter
choler that is vomited out of the stomach.

It is not good, therefore, to receive and admit of friends over-
lightly and over-soon, nor to set our minds and knit our affec-
tions to those that come next hand and present themselves first,
nor yet love those incontinently that seek to us and follow us;
but rather to seek after them and follow them ourselves that are
worthy of friendship : for we must not always choose that which
is easy to be had and willing to be gotten; for we put by gorse
and furzen bushes; we tread under foot briars and brambles
though they catch hold of us and hang unto us as we walk
whether we will or no; whereas we go forward to the olive-tree
and the vine; and even so it is not always decent and good to
entertain into our familiarity one that is ready to embrace and
hang about us ; but rather such ought we ourselves affectionately
to embrace whom we have tried to be profitable unto us, and who

Of the Plurality of Friends 309

deserve that we should love and make account of them. And
like as Xeuxis the painter answered sometime to those who found
fault with him for his slow hand in painting: I confess indeed
(quoth he) that I am long in drawing a picture, for I purpose
that my work should continue long; and even so that friendship
and familiarity is like to last and be preserved long which was
a good while in proof and trial. Is it then no easy matter to
make trial and choice of many friends together? and is it no
hard thing to converse and keep company with many at once,
or rather is this also impossible? for surely it is conversation
and fellowship whereby we enjoy the benefit of friendship, and
the most sweet and pleasant fruit of amity consisteth in keeping
continual society, and daily frequenting one another's company,
like unto those who uttered these words :

For during life we will not sit

In counsel from our friends,
Nor yet resolve of doubtful points

Before we know their minds.

As Homer reporteth in one place: and in another Menelaus,
speaking of Ulysses, saith thus :

Nought else us twain, our mutual love,

And pleasures shall depart
Until death close up both our eyes

And strike us to the heart.

But this plurality of friends whereof we now speak, seemeth
to do clean contrary; for whereas the simple amity of twain
draweth us together, holdeth and uniteth us by frequent and
continual conversation, fellowship, and duties of kindness.

Much like as when the fig-tree juice,

You put white milk among.
It curdles, knits, and binds the same.

No less than rennet strong,

according to the words of Empedocles ; and surely desirous it is
to make the semblable union and concorporation : this friend-
ship of many separateth, distracteth and diverteth us, calling
and transporting us sundry ways, not permitting the commixture
and soldering (as it were) of goodwill and kind affection to grow
into one, and make a perfect joint by familiar conversation, en-
closing and fastening every part together. But the same anon
bringeth withal a great inequality in offices and reciprocal
services meet for friends, and breedeth a certain foolish bashful-
ness and straining of courtesy in the performance thereof, for
by occasion of many friends those parts in amity, which other-

3IO Plutarch's Morals

wise are easy and commodious, become difficult and incom-
modious: And why?

AH men do not agree in humour one,

Their thoughts, their cares bend diversely each one;

and no marvel, for our very natures do not all incline in affection
the same way; neither are we at all times conversant and
acquainted with the like fortunes and adventures. To say
nothing of their sundry occasions and occurrences which serve
not indifferently for all our actions; but like as the winds unto
sailors, they are with some and against others; sometimes on
our backs and otherwhiles full in our face. And say that it
may fall out so that all our friends at once do stand in need,
and be desirous of one and the same help and ministry at our
hands, it were very hard to fit all their turns and satisfy them
to their content; whether it be in taking our advice and counsel
in any negotiations, or in treating about state matters, or in
suit after dignities, places of government, or in feasting and
entertaining strangers in their houses : But suppose that at one
and the same instant our friends, being diversely affected and
troubled with sundry affairs, request all of them together our
helping hand; as, for example, one that is going to sea, for to
have our company in that voyage ; another, who being defendant
and to answer for himself in the law, to assist him in the court;
and a third that is a plaintiff, to second him in his plea ; a fourth,
who either is to buy or sell, for to help him to make his markets ;
a fifth, who is to marry, for to sacrifice with him, and be at his
wedding dinner; and a sixth, who is to inter a dead corpse, for
to mourn and solemnise the funeral with him : in such a medley
and confusion as this, as if according to Sophocles :

A city smoked with incense sweet,
And ring with songs for mirth so meet,
With plaints also and groans resoimd.
And all in one and selfsame stound.

Certes, having so many friends, to assist and gratify them all

were impossible, to pleasure more were absurd, and in serving

one's turn to reject many others, were offensive and hurtful : for

this is a rule :

Who to his friend is well affected.
Loves not himself to be neglected.

And yet commonly such negligences and forgetful defaults of
friends we take with more patience and put up with less anger
and displeasure, when they shall come to excuse themselves

Of the Plurality of Friends 3 1 1

by oblivion, making these and such-like answers: Surely, you
were but forgotten ; it was out of my head, and I never thought
of it: but he that shall allege thus and say: I was not your
assistant in the court, nor stood to you in your cause, by reason
that I attended another friend of mine in a trial of his; or, I
came not to visit you whiles you had an ague, for that I was
busily employed at a feast, that such a one made to one of his
friends; excusing his negligence to one friend by his diligence
to others; surely he maketh no satisfaction for the offence
already taken, but increaseth the same and maketh it worse
than before, by reason of jealousy added thereto; howbeit most
men as it should seem aim at nothing else but at the profit and
commodity which friendship bringeth and yieldeth from without,
and never regard what care it doth imprint and work within;
neither remember they that he whose turn hath been served by
many friends, must likewise reciprocally be ready to help them
as their need requireth. Like as therefore the giant Briareus,
with his hundred hands feeding fifty bellies, had no more
sustenance for his whole body than we, who with two hands
furnish and fill one belly; even so the commodity that we have
by many friends bringeth this discommodity withal, that we are
to be employed also to many, in taking part with them of their
griefs and passions, in travailing and in being troubled together
with them in all their negotiations and affairs: for we are not
to give ear unto Euripides the poet when he saith thus:

In mutual love men ought a mean to keep,
That it touch not heart root nor marrow deep,
Affections for to change it well besits,
To rise and fall, now hot, now cool by fits ;

giving us to understand that friendship is to be used according
as need requireth more or less, like to the helm of a ship, which
both holdeth it hard and also giveth head, or the tackling which
spread and draw, hoist and strike sail, as occasion serveth.
But contrariwise, rather (good Euripides) we may turn this
speech of yours to enmity, and admonish men that their quarrels
and contentions be moderate and enter not to the heart and
inward marrow (as it were) of the soul, that hatred (I say) and
malice, that anger, offences, defiances, and suspicions, be so
entertained as that they may be soon appeased, laid down and
forgotten.

A better precept is that yet of Pythagoras, when he teacheth
us not to give our right hand to many; that is to say, not to
make many men our friends, nor to affect that popular amity

3 1 2 Plutarch's Morals

common to all, and exposed or offered to every one that cometh,
which no doubt cannot chuse but bring many passions with it
into the heart, among which, to be disquieted for a friend, to
condole or grieve with him, to enter into troubles, and to plunge
oneself into perils for his sake, are not very easy matters to be
borne by those that carry an ingenuous mind with them, and be
kind-hearted; but the saying of wise Chilon, a professor of
philosophy, is most true, who answering unto a man that
vaunted how he had not an enemy; It should seem then (quoth
he) that thou hast never a friend; for certainly enmities ensue
presently upon amities, nay, they are both interlaced together;
neither is it the part of a friend not to feel the injuries done unto
a friend, nor to participate with him in all ignominies, hatred
and quarrels that he incurreth; and one enemy evermore will
be sure to suspect the friend of another, yea, and be ready to
malice him; as for friends, oftentimes they envy their own
friends, they have them in jealousy, and traduce them every
way. The oracle answered unto Timesias when he consulted
about the planting and peopling of a new colony in this wise :

Thou think'st to lead a swarm of bees full kind,
But angry wasps thou shalt them shortly find.

Semblably they that seek after a bee-hive (as it were) of friends,
light ere they be aware upon a wasps' nest of enemies: where
there is a great odds and difference even in this, that the reveng-
ing remembrance of an enemy for wrong done over-weigheth
much the thankful memory of a friend for a benefit received:
and whether this be true or no, consider in what manner
Alexander the Great entreated the friends of Philotas and
Parmenio; how Dionysius the Tyrant used the familiars of Dion;
after what sort Nero the emperor dealt by the acquaintance of
Plautus; or Tiberius Caesar by the well-willers of Sejanus, whom
they caused all to be racked, tortured and put to death in the
end. And Hke as the costly jewels of gold, and the rich apparel
of King Creon's daughter, served him in no stead at all, but the
fire that took hold thereof, flaming light out suddenly, burned
him when he ran unto her to take her in his arms, and so con-
sumed father and daughter together; even so you shall have
some, who having never received any benefit at all by the pros-
perity of their friends, are entangled notwithstanding in their
calamities, and perish together with them for company; a thing
that ordinarily and most of all they are subject unto, who be
men of profession, great clerks and honourable personages.

Of the Plurality of Friends 313

Thus Theseus, when Perithous his friend was punished and lay
bound in prison,

With fetters sure to him tied was.
Far stronger than of iron or brass.

Thucydides also writeth; That in the great pestilence at
Athens, the best men and such as made greatest profession of
virtue, were they who died most with their friends that lay sick
of the plague : for that they never spared themselves, but went to
visit and look to all those whom they loved and were familiarly
acquainted with. And therefore it is not meet to make so little
regard and reckoning of virtue, as to hang and fasten it upon
others, without respect, and (as they say) hand over head, but
to reserve the communication thereof to those who be worthy;
that is to say, unto such who are able to love reciprocally, and
know how to impart the like again. And verily, this is the
greatest contrariety and opposition which crosseth plurality of
friends, in that amity in deed is bred by similitude and con-
formity: for considering that the very brute beasts not endued
with reason, if a man would have to engender with those that
are of divers kinds, are brought to it by force, and thereto com-
pelled, insomuch as they shrink, they couch down upon their
knees, and be ready to flee from one another; whereas con-
trariwise, they take pleasure and delight to be coupled with
their like and of the same kind, receiving willingly and enter-
taining their company in the act of generation, with gentleness
and good contentment: how is it possible that any sound and
perfect friendship should grow between those who are in
behaviour quite different, in affections diverse, in conditions
opposite, and whose course of life tendeth to contrary or
sundry ends ? True it is that the harmony of music, whether
it be in song or. instrument, hath symphony by antiphony, (that
is to say) the accord ariseth from discord and of contrary notes
is composed a sweet tune, so as the treble and the base concur,
after a sort (I wot not how), and meet together, bringing forth
by their agreement that sound which pleaseth the ear: but in
this consonance and harmony of friendship there ought to be no
part unlike or unequal, nothing obscure and doubtful, but the
same should be composed of all things agreeable, to wit, the same
will, the same opinion, the same counsel, the same affection, as
if one soul were parted into many bodies.

And what man is he, so laborious, so mutable, so variable,
and apt to take every fashion and form ? who is able to frame

314 Plutarch's Morals

unto all patterns, and accommodate himself to so many natures,
and will not rather be ready to laugh at the poet Theognis,
who giveth this lesson:

Put on a mind (I thee do wish)
As variable as polj^e fish,
Who ay resemble will the roach.
To which he nearly doth approach.

And yet this change and transmutation of the said polype or
pourcuttle fish, entereth not deeply in, but appeareth superficially
in the skin, which by the closeness or laxity thereof, as he draws
it in or lets it out, receiveth the defluctions of the colours from
those bodies that are near unto it; whereas amities do require
that the manners, natures, passions, speeches, studies, desires
and inclinations may be conformable; for otherwise to do were
the property of a Proteus, who was neither fortunate nor yet
very good and honest, but who by enchantment and sorcery
could eftsoons transform himself from one shape to another in
one and the same instant; and even so he that entertaineth many
friends must of necessity be conformable to them all; namely,
with the learned and studious, to be ever reading; with pro-
fessors of wrestling, to bestrew his body with dust (as they do)
for to wrestle; with hunters, to hunt; with drunkards, to quaff
and carouse; with ambitious citizens, to sue and mung for
offices, without any settled mansion (as it were) of his own
nature for his conditions to make abode in. And like as natural
philosophers do hold: That the substance or matter that hath
neither form nor any colour, which they call materia -prima, is
a subject capable of all forms, and of the own nature so apt to
alter and change, that sometimes it is ardent and burning,
otherwhiles it is liquid and moist; now rare and of an airy
substance, and afterwards again gross and thick, resembling the
nature of earth; even so must the mind applied to this multi-
plicity of friends, be subject to many passions, sundry con-
ditions, divers affections pliable, variable and apt to change
from one fashion to another. Contrariwise, simple friendship
and amity between twain requireth a staid mind, a firm and
constant nature, permanent and abiding always in one place,
and retaining still the same fashions; which is the reason that
a fast and assured friend is very geason and hard to be found.

OF FORTUNE

THE SUMMARY

[Long time hath this proverb been current, That there is nothing
in this world but good fortune and misfortune. Some have ex-
pounded and taken it thus; as if all things were carried by mere
chance and aventure, or moved and driven by inconstant fortune, an
idol forged in their brain, for that they were ignorant in the provi-
dence of the True God, who conducteth ordinarily all things in this
world by second causes and subaltern means, yea, the very motion,
will, and works of men, for the execution of his ordinance and
purpose. Now Plutarch, not able to arise and reach up to this
divine and heavenly wisdom hidden from his knowledge, stayeth
below ; and yet, poor pagan and ethnic though he were, he confuteth
that dangerous opinion of fortune ; shewing that it taketh away all
distinction of good and evil, quencheth and putteth out the light of
man's life, blending and confounding vice and virtue together.
Afterwards he proveth that prudence and wisdom over-ruleth this
blind fortune, by considering the mastery and dominion that man
hath above beasts: the arts also and sciences whereof he maketh
profession, together with his judgment and will directly opposite and
contrary to all casualties and changes.]

Blind fortune rules man's life alway,
Sage counsel therein bears no sway,

said one (whoever it was) that thought all human actions
depended upon mere casualty, and were not guided by wisdom.
What? and hath justice and equity no place at all in this world ?
can temperance and modesty do nothing in the direction and
managing of our affairs? Came it from fortune; and was it
indeed by mere chance that Aristides made choice to continue
in poverty, when it was in his power to make himself a lord of
much wealth and many goods? or that Scipio, when he had
forced Carthage, took not to himself, nor so much as saw any
part of all that pillage? And was it long of fortune, or by
casualty that Philocrates having received of King Philip a great
sum of gold, bought therewith harlots and dainty fishes? or
that Lasthenes and Euthycrates betrayed the city Olynthus,
measuring sovereign good and felicity of man by belly-cheer,
and those pleasures which of all other be most dishonest and
infamous? And shall we say, it was a work of fortune that
Alexander, son of Philip, not only himself forbare to touch the

315

3i6 Plutarch's Morals

bodies of the captive women taken in war, but also punished
all such as offered them violence and injury: and contrariwise,
came it by ill luck and unhappy fortune, that another Alexander,
the son of King Priamus, slept and lay with his friend's wife,
when he lodged and entertained him in his house, and not only
so, but carried her away with him, and by that occasion brought
all manner of calamity upon two main parts of the continent,
to wit, Europe and Asia, and filled them both with those
miseries that follow wars?

If we grant that all these occurrents came by fortune, what
should let us, but we might as well say that cats, goats and apes
be likewise by fortune given to be always lickerous, lecherous,
shrewd and saucy. But in case it be true (as true it is) that the
world hath in it temperance, justice and fortitude; what reason
is there to say that there is no prudence and wisdom therein?
Now if it be yielded that the world is not void of prudence, how
can it be maintained that there should not be in it sage counsel ?
For temperance (as some say) is a kind of prudence; and most
certain it is that justice should be assisted by prudence; or to
say more truly, ought to have it present with her continually.
Certes, sage counsel and wisdom in the good use of pleasures and
delights, whereby we continue honest, we ordinarily do call
continence and temperance; the same in dangers and travails,
we term tolerance, patience and fortitude; in contracts and
management of state affairs we give the name of loyalty, equity
and justice; whereby it cometh to pass, that if we will attribute
the effects of counsel and wisdom unto fortune, we must likewise
ascribe unto her the works of justice and temperance. And so
(believe me) to rob and steal, to cut purses, and to keep whores,
must proceed from fortune; which if it be so, let us abandon
all discourse of our reason, and betake ourselves wholly to
fortune to be driven and carried to and fro at her pleasure like
to the dust, chaff or sweepings of the floor, by the puflfs of some
great wind. Take away sage and discreet counsel ; farewell then
all consultation as touching affairs, away with deliberation,
consideration and inquisition into that which is behoveful and
expedient: for surely then Sophocles talked idly, and knew not
what he spake in saying thus :

Seek, and be sure to find with diligence.
But lose what you forlet by negligence.

And in another place, where dividing the affairs of man, he saith
in this wise :

Of Fortune 3 1 7

What may be taught, I strive to learn ;

What may likewise be found
I seek, for wishes all I pray,

And would to God be bound.

Now would I gladly know, what is it that men may find and

what can they learn, in case all things in the world be directed

by fortune ? What senate house of city would not be dissolved

and abolished? what counsel chamber of prince should not be

overthrown and put down, if all were at the disposition of

fortune? We do her wrong in reproaching her for blindness,

when we run upon her as we do, blind, and debasing ourselves

into her; for how can we chuse but stumble upon her indeed,

if we pluck out our own eyes, to wit, our wisdom and dexterity

3f counsel, and take a blind guide to lead us by the hand in the

:ourse of this our life ? Certes, this were even as much as if some

3ne of us should say, the action of those that see is fortune, and

lot sight of eyes, which Plato calleth cjnoacfiopa, that is, light-

Dearers: the action likewise of them that hear is nothing else

3Ut fortune, and not a natural power and faculty to receive the

itroke or repercussion of the air, carried by the ear to the brain.

But better it were (I trow) and so will every wise body think,

;o take heed how to discredit our senses so as to submit them

;o fortune: For why? Nature hath bestowed upon us sight,

learing, taste and smelling, with all the parts of the body endued

vith the rest of their powers and faculties, as ministers of

;ounsel and wisdom. For it is the soul that seeth, it is the soul

ind understanding that heareth, all the rest are deaf and blind :

ind like as if there were no sun at all we should (for all the

tars besides) live in perpetual night as Heraclitus saith; even

o, if man had not reason and intelligence, notwithstanding all

lis other senses, he should not differ in the whole race of his life

rom brute and wild beasts ; but now in that we excel and rule

hem all, it is not by chance and fortune : but Prometheus

' that is to say) the use and discourse of reason is the very cause

hat hath given us in recompense

Both horse and ass, with breed of beeves so strong
To carry us, and ease our labour long,

ccording as we read in ^schylus the poet. Forasmuch as

• therwise fortune and nature both have been more favourable

nd beneficial to most of the brute beasts in their entrance into

his life, than unto man; for armed they be with horns, tusks,

purs and stings; moreover, as Empedocles saith:

The urchin strikes with many a prick.
Which grow on back both sharp and thick.

3i8 Plutarch's Morals

Again, there be many beasts clad and covered with scales and
shag hair; shod also with claws and hard hoofs: only man, as
Plato saith, is abandoned and forsaken by nature, all naked,
unarmed, unshod, and without any vesture whatsoever:

But by one gift which she hath given.
Amends she makes, and all is even ;

and that is, the use of reason, industry and providence:

For strength of mortal man is small,
His limbs but weak and sinews all:
Yet by his wit and quick conceit,
By cunning casts and subtle sleight.
No beast in sea, or mount, so fell,
So wild or sly, but he doth quell.

What beast more nimble, more light and swift than is the
horse ? but for man it is that he runneth in the race : the dog is
courageous and eager in fight, but it is in the defence of man:
fishes yield a most delicate and sweet meat, and swine be full
of good flesh, but both of them serve as viands for the food and
nourishment of man: what creature is bigger or more terrible
to see to than is the elephant? howbeit he maketh man sport
and pastime, he is shewed as a goodly sight in festival solemnities
where people be assembled, he is taught to frisk and dance his
measures, to fall upon his knees likewise and do reverence : and
verily these and such-like sleights and examples are exhibited
not in vain nor without good profit, but to this end, that thereby
we may know how far forth reason and wisdom doth advance
and lift up a man, above what things it maketh him surmount,
and how by means thereof he ruleth all, and surpasseth all :

At fight with fists we are not good,

Nor yet in tripping feet.
In wrestling we may well be blam'd,

Our running is not fleet.

But in all these feats we are inferior to brute beasts, howbeit
for experience, memory, wisdom and artificial sleights (as
Anaxagoras said) we go beyond them all, and thereby we have
the mastery and use of them, making them to serve our turns :
we strain honey out of the combs of bees ; we press milk out of
beasts' udders; we rob and spoil them; we drive and carry
them away, and whatsoever they have, insomuch as in all this
there is nothing that can be justly attributed to fortune, but
all proceeds from counsel and forecast.

Furthermore, the works of carpenters are done by hand of
man, so are they also of smiths and braziers, of masons, builders,

Of Fortune 3 1 9

gravers and imagers: in all which there is nothing to be seen
that a man can say is done by chance or fortune, at leastwise
when it is wrought absolutely and as it should be. And say
that it may fall out otherwhiles that a good artisan, whether
he be a cutter in brass or a mason, a smith or a carpenter, may
meet with fortune and do some little thing by chance; yet the
greatest pieces of work and the most number are wrought and
finished respectively by their arts, which a certain poet hath
given us secretly to understand by these verses:

March oa your way, each artisan,
Who live upon 5'our handicraft,
On forth, I say, in comely train.
Your sacred panniers bear aloft ;
You that Ergane dread and fear,
The daughter grim of Jupiter.

For this Ergane (that is to say, Minerva) all artisans and

irtificers acknowledge and honour for their patroness, and not

ortune. True it is that the report goes of a certain painter,

vho drawing the picture of an horse, had done very well in all

espects, both in portraiture and also colours, save only that he

)leased not himself in painting the foam and swelling froth

vhich useth to gather about the bit as he champeth upon the

; ame, and so falleth from his mouth when he snuffeth and

oloweth; this, I say, he liked not, neither thought he it work-

] aanly done, insomuch as he wiped it out many times and began

it anew; but never was it to his mind; at last, in a pelting

( hafe because it would frame no better, he takes me his sponge

i all as it was of colours, and fiang it against the table wherein

1 e wrought; but see the wonderful chance; this sponge,

1 ghting as it did upon the right place, gave such a print, and

( ashed so, as that it represented the froth that he so much

( esired most lively; and to my remembrance there is not in

i ny history set down an artificial thing but this that fortune

e ver did.

Artificers use altogether in every piece of work their squires,
t leir rules, their lines and levels ; they go by measures and
r ambers, to the end that in all their works there should not be
a lything found done either rashly or at aventure. And verily
t lese arts are petty kinds of prudence and so called; or rills
a id riverets flowing from prudence, or certain parcels rather of
i- , sprinkled and dispersed among the necessities of this life:
a id thus much is covertly signified by the fable of the fire that
I rometheus divided by sparkles, which slew some here, some

320 Plutarch's Morals

there ; for semblably , the small parcels and fragments of wisdom,
being cut into sundry portions, are ranged into their several
ranks and become arts. A wonderful thing how these arts and
sciences should have no dealing with fortune nor need her help,
for to attain unto their proper ends; and yet prudence, which
is the greatest sovereign and most perfect of them all, yea, and
the very height of all the glory, reputation and goodness of man,
should be just nothing. In the winding up and letting down of
the strings of an instrument, there is one kind of wisdom, and
that is called music ; in the dressing and ordering of meats and
viands there is another, which they name cookery; in washing
and scouring of clothes and garments there is a third, to wit,
the fuller's craft. As for our little children, we teach them to
draw on their shoes, to make them ready and dress themselves
in their clothes decently, to take meat in their right hand, and
to hold bread in the left; an evident argument and proof that
even such small matters as these depend not of chance and
fortune, but require skill and heed taking.

Shall we say then that the greatest and most principal things
that are, even those that be most material and necessary for
man's felicity, use not wisdom, nor participate one whit with
providence and the judgment of reason? There is no man so
blockish and void of understanding, that after he hath tempered
clay and water together, lets it alone and goeth his way when he
hath so done, looking that of the own accord, or by fortune,
there will be bricks or tiles made thereof: neither is any one
such a sot, as when he hath bought wool and leather, sits him
down and prays unto fortune that thereof he may have garments
or shoes: and is there any man so foolish, think you, who having
gathered together a great mass of gold and silver, gotten about
him a mighty retinue of slaves and servants, and being possessed
of divers fair and stately houses with many a door within and
without, and those surely locked on every side, having before
him in his eyesight a sort of sumptuous beds with their rich and
costly furniture, and of tables most precious, will repose sove-
reign felicity therein, or think that all this can make him to live
happily, without pain, without grief, secure of change and
alteration, if he have not wisdom withal ?

There was one that cavilled upon a time with Captain
Iphicrates, and by way of reproach and minding to prove that
he was of no reckoning, demanded what he was.? For (quoth
he) you are not a man-at-arms, nor archer, nor yet targetier:
I am not indeed, I confess (quoth Iphicrates), but I am he who

Of Fortune 321

command all these, and employ them as occasion serveth; even
so wisdom is neither gold nor silver, it is not glory or riches,
it is not health, it is not strength, it is not beauty: what is it
then? Surely even that which can skill how to use all these,
and by means whereof each of these things is pleasant, honour-
able and profitable; and contrariwise, without which they are
displeasant, hurtful and dangerous, working his destruction and
dishonour who possesseth them. And therefore right good
counsel gave Prometheus in Hesiodus to his brother Epimetheus
n this one point:

Receive no gifts at any time,

Which heavenly Jove shall lend:
But see thou do refuse them all.

And back again them send.

leaning thereby these outward goods of fortune's gift, as if he
vould have said: Go not about to play upon a flute, if thou
lave no knowledge in music; nor to read if thou know never a
etter in the book; mount not on horseback, unless thou canst
ell how to sit him and ride; and even so he advised him thereby
; lot to seek for office and place of government in commonweal,
' wanting wit as he did ; nor to lay for riches, so long as he bare
i. covetous mind and wist not how to be liberal; nor to marry
i , wife, for to be his master and to lead him by the nose : for
not only wealth and prosperity happening above desert unto
1 nadvised folk, giveth occasion (as Demosthenes said) unto
lhem for to commit many follies; but also worldly happiness
1 eyond all reason and demerit, causeth such as are not wise
1 3 become unhappy and miserable in the end.

OF ENVY AND HATRED

THE SUMMARY

[In this brief treatise concerning envy and hatred, Plutarch, after
he hath shewed in general terms that they be two different vices,
and declared withal the properties of the one and the other, proveth
this difference by divers reasons and arguments ranged in their
order: he discovereth the nature of envious persons and malicious;
and sheweth by a proper similitude that the greatest personages in
the world be secured from the claws and paws of envious persons,
and yet for all that, cease not to have many enemies. And verily
it seemeth that the author began this little work especially for to
beat down envy, and that the infamy thereof might so much more
appear, in comparing and matching it with another detestable vice,
the which notwithstanding he saith is less enormous than it.]

It seemeth at the first sight that there is no difference between
envy and hatred, but that they be both one. For vice (to speak
in general) having (as it were) many hooks or crotchets, by
means thereof as it stirreth to and fro, it yieldeth unto those
passions which hang thereto many occasions and opportunities
to catch hold one of another, and so to be knit and interlaced
one within the other; and the same verily (like unto diseases
of the body) have a sympathy and fellow-feeling one of another's
distemperature and inflammation: for thus it cometh to pass,
that a malicious and spightful man is as much grieved and
offended at the prosperity of another as the envious person:
and so we hold that benevolence and goodwill is opposite unto
them both, for that it is an affection of a man wishing good
unto his neighbour: and envy in this respect resembleth hatred,
for that they have both a will and intention quite contrary unto
love: but forasmuch as no things be the same, and the re-
semblances between them be not so effectual to make them all
one, as the differences to distinguish them asunder; let us
search and examine the said differences, beginning at the very
source and original of these passions.

Hatred then, is engendered and ariseth in our heart upon an
imagination and deep apprehension that we conceive of him
whom we hate, that either he is naught and wicked in general
to every man, or else intending mischief particularly unto our-

322

Of Envy and Hatred 323

selves: for commonly it falleth out, that those who think they
have received some injury at such an one's hand, are disposed
to hate him, yea, and those whom otherwise they know to be
maliciously bent and wont to hurt others, although they have
not wronged them, yet they hate and cannot abide to look upon
them with patience; whereas ordinarily they bear envy unto
such only as seem to prosper and to live in better state than
their neighbours : by which reckoning it should seem that envy
is a thing indefinite, much like unto the disease of the eyes
ophthalmia, which is offended with the brightness of any light
whatsoever; whereas hatred is determinate, being always
grounded upon some certain subject matters respective to itself,
and on them it worketh. Secondly, our hatred doth extend
even to brute beasts; for some you shall have who naturally
abhor and cannot abide to see cats nor the flies cantharides,
nor toads, nor yet snakes and any such serpents. As for
Germanicus Caesar, he could not of all things abide either to see
a cock or to hear him crow. The sages of Persia called their
Magi, killed all their mice and rats, as well for that themselves
could not away with them but detested them, as also because
the god (forsooth) whom they worshipped had them in horror.
And in truth, all the Arabians and Ethiopians generally hold
them abominable. But envy properly is between man and man ;
aeither is there any likelihood at all that there should be im-
printed envy in savage creatures one against another; because
t;hey have not this imagination and apprehension, that another
s either fortunate or unfortunate, neither be they touched with
iny sense of honour or dishonour; which is the one thing that
Drincipally and most of all other giveth an edge and whetteth
m envy; whereas it is evident that they hate one another, they
Dear malice and maintain enmity, nay, they go to war as against
:hose that be disloyal, treacherous, and such as are not to be
:rusted : for in this wise do eagles war with dragons, crows with
)wls, and the little nonnet or tit-mouse fighteth with the linnet,
nsomuch, as by report, the very blood of them after they be
cilled will not mingle together; and that which is more, if you
;eem to mix them, they will separate and run apart again one
rom the other: and by all likelihood, the hatred that the lion
lath to the cock, and the elephant also unto an hog, proceedeth
rom fear: for lightly that which creatures naturally fear, the
ame they also hate; so that herein also a man may assign
,nd note the difference between envy and hatred, for that the
: lature of beasts is capable of the one but not of the other.

324 Plutarch's Morals

Over and besides, no man deserveth justly to be envied: for
to be in prosperity and in better state than another, is no wrong
or injury offered to any person; and yet this is it for which
men be envied ; whereas contrariwise, many are hated worthily,
such as those whom in Greek we call d^iofiunqTovs, that is to say,
worthy of public hatred, as also as many as do not fly from such,
detest them not nor abhor their company. And a great argu-
ment to verify this point may be gathered from hence, namely,
in that some there be who confess and take it upon them that
they hate many ; but no man will be known that he envieth any :
for in truth, the hatred of wicked persons and of wickedness is
commended as a quality in men praiseworthy. And to this
purpose serveth well that which was said of Charillus, who
reigned in Sparta, and was Lycurgus his brother's son, whom,
when there were certain that commended for a man of mild
behaviour and of a relenting and gentle nature: And how can
it be (quoth he who was joined with him in the royal govern-
ment) that Charillus should be good, seeing he is not sharp and
rigorous to the wicked? And the poet Homer, describing the
deformity of Thersytes his body, depainted his defects and
imperfections in sundry parts of his person, and by many circum-
locutions; but his perverse nature and crooked conditions he
set down briefly and in one word, in this wise:

Worthy Achilles of all the host
And sage Ulysses, he hated most ;

for he could not chuse but be stark naught and wicked in the
highest degree, who was so full of hatred unto the best men.
As for those who deny that they are envious, in case they be
convinced manifestly therein, they have a thousand pretences
and excuses therefore, alleging that they are angry with the
man, or stand in fear of him whom indeed they bear envy unto,
or that they hate him, colouring and cloaking this passion of
envy with the veil of any other whatsoever for to hide and cover
it, as if it were the only malady of the soul that would be con-
cealed and dissembled. It cannot chuse, therefore, but that
these two passions be nourished and grow as plants of one kind,
by the same means, considering that naturally they succeed
one the other: howbeit, we rather hate those that be given more
to lewdness and wickedness, and we envy such rather who seem
to excel others in virtue. And therefore Themistocles (being
but a youth) gave out and said that he had done nothing notable,
because as yet he was not envied : for like as the flies cantharides

Of Envy and Hatred 325

settle principally upon that wheat which is the fairest and come
to full perfection; and likewise stick unto the roses that are
most out, and in the very pride of their flowering; even so envy
taketh commonly unto the best-conditioned persons, and to
such as are growing to the height of virtue and honour: whereas
contrariwise, the lewdest qualities that be, and wicked in the
highest degree, do mightily move and augment hatred: and
hereupon it was that the Athenians had them in such detestable
hatred, and abhorred them so deadly, who by their slanderous
imputations brought good Socrates their fellow-citizen to his
death, insomuch as they would not vouchsafe either to give
them a coal or two of fire, or light their candles, or deign them
m answer when they asked a question; nay, they would not
A^ash or bathe together with them in the same water, but com-
nanded those servitors in the bains which were called Parachytae,
iiat is to say, drawers and laders of water into the bathing
/essels, to let forth that as polluted and defiled wherein they
lad washed; whereupon they seeing themselves thus excom-
nunicate and not able to endure this public hatred which they
lad incurred, being weary of their lives, hung and strangled
;hemselves.

On the contrary side, it is often seen that the excellency of
nrtue, honour and glory, and the extraordinary success of men
s so much, that it doth extinguish and quench all envy. For it
s not a likely or credible matter that any man bare envy unto
^^yrus or Alexander the Great, after they were become the only
ords and monarchs of the whole world: but like as the sun,
vhen he is directly and plumb over the head or top of anything,
.auseth either no shadow at all, or the same very small and
hort, by the reason that his light overspread eth round about;
ven so, when the prosperity of a man is come to the highest
)oint and have gotten over the head of envy, then the said
' nvy retireth and is either gone altogether, or else drawn within
i. little room by reason of that brightness overspreading it:
»ut contrariwise the grandence of fortune and puissance in the
nemies doth not one jot abbreviate or allay the hatred of their
vil-willers; and that this is true may appear by the example
i Alexander above named, who had not one that envied him,
)Ut many enemies he found, and those malicious, and by them
a the end he was traitorously forlayed and murdered.

Semblably, adversities may well stay envy and cause it cease,

lUt enmity and hatred they do not abolish; for men never give

< ver to despite their enemies, no, not when they are brought

326

Plutarch's Morals

low and oppressed with calamities; whereas you shall not see
one in misery envied. But most true is that saying found of
a certain sophister or great professor in our days: That envious
persons of all other be ever pitiful and delight most in com-
miseration: so that herein lieth one of the greatest differences
between these two passions; that hatred departeth not from
those persons of whom it hath once taken hold, neither in the
prosperity nor adversity of those whom they hate; whereas
envy doth avoid and vanish away to nothing upon extremity
as well of the one as the other.

Over and besides, we may the better discover the difference
also of them by the contraries : for hatred, enmity, and malice
cease presently so soon as a man is persuaded that he hath
caught no harm nor sustained injury by the party; or when he
hath conceived an opinion that such as he hated for their lewd-
ness are reformed and become honest men; or thirdly, if he have
received some pleasure or good turn at their hand : for evermore
the last favour that is shewed (as Thucydides saith), though it
be less than many others, yet if it come in season and a good
time, is able to do out a greater offence taken before. Now of
these three causes before specified, the first doth not wash away
envy; for say that men were persuaded at the first that they
received no wrong at all; yet they give not over for all that to
bear envy still: and as for the two later, they do irritate and
provoke it the rather: for such as they esteem men of quality
and good worth, those they do eye-bite more than before, as
having virtue the greatest good that is; and notwithstanding
that they do reap commodity and find favour at their hands
who prosper more than they, yet they grieve and vex thereat,
envying them still both for their good mind to benefit them,
and for their might and ability to perform the same; for that
the one proceedeth from virtue, and the other from an happy
estate, both which are good things.

We may therefore conclude that envy is a passion far different
from hatred, since it is so that wherewith the one is appeased
and mollified, the other is made more exasperate and grievous.
But let us consider a little in the end the scope and intention as
well of the one as the other: Certes, the man that is malicious
purposeth fully to do him a mischief whom he hateth; so that
this passion is defined to be a disposition and forward will to spy
out an occasion and opportunity to wait another a shrewd turn;
but surely this is not in envy: for many there be who have an
envious eye to their kinsfolk and companions, whom they would

Of Envy and Hatred 327

lot for all the good in the world see either to perish or to fall
nto any grievous calamity; only they are grieved to see them
n such prosperity, and would impeach what they can their
DOwer, and eclipse the brightness of their glory; marry, they
vould not procure nor desire their utter overthrow, nor any
distresses remediless or extreme miseries; but it would content
md suffice them to take down their height, and as it were the
ipmost garret or turret of an high house which overlooketh
;hem.

HOW A MAN MAY RECEIVE PROFIT
BY HIS ENEMIES

THE SUMMARY

[Among the dangerous effects of envy and hatred, this is not the
least nor one of the last, that they shoot (as it were) from within our
adversaries, for to slide and enter into us and take possession in
our hearts, making us believe that we shall impeach one evil by
another; which is as much as to desire to cleanse one ordure by a
new, and to quench a great fire by putting into it plenty of oil. As
for hatred, it hath another effect nothing less pernicious, in that
it maketh us blind, and causeth us that we cannot tell at which end
or turning to take our enemies, nor know ourselves how to re-enter
into the way of virtue. Plutarch, wUling to cut off such effects by
the help of moral philosophy, taketh occasion to begin this discourse
with a sentence of Xenophon; and proveth in the first place by
divers similitudes: That a man may take profit by his enemies:
and this he layeth abroad in particulars, shewing that their ambushes
and inquisitions serve us in very great stead. After this, he teacheth
us the true way how to be revenged of those that hate us, and what
we ought to consider in blaming another. Now forasmuch as our
life is subject to many injuries and calumniations, he instructeth
us how a man may turn all to his own commodity: which done,
he presenteth four remedies and expedient means against their
slanderous language, and how we should confound our enemies:
The first is. To contain our own tongues, without rendering evil for
evil ; the second is, To do them good, to love and praise their virtues ;
the third. To outgo them in well-doing; and the last. To provide
that virtue remain always on our side, in such sort, that if our
enemies be vicious, yet we persist in doing good ; and if they carry
some shew and appearance of goodness, we endeavour to be indeed
and without all comparison better than they.]

I SEE that you have chosen by yourself (0 Cornelius Pulcher)
the meetest course that may be in the government of common-
wealth ; wherein having a principal regard unto the weal-public,
you shew yourself most gracious and courteous in private to all
those that have access and repair unto you. Now forasmuch
as a man may well find some country in the world wherein there
is no venomous beast, as it is written of Candie, but the manage-
ment and administration of state affairs was never known yet
to this day clear from envy, jealousy, emulation, and contention,

328

Profiting by Our Enemies 329

passions of all other most apt to engender and breed enmities,
unto which it is subject; for that if there were nothing else,
even amity and friendship itself is enough to entangle and
encumber us with enmities ; which wise Chilon the sage knowing
well enough, demanded upon a time of one (who vaunted that
he had no enemies) whether he had not a friend. In regard
hereof a man of state and policy, in mine opinion (among many
Dther things wherein he ought to be well studied) should also
thoroughly know what belongeth to the having of enemies, and
jive good ear unto the saying of Xenophon, namely: That a
nan of wit and understanding is to make his profit and benefit
)y his enemies. And therefore, having gathered into a pretty
xeatise that which came into my mind of late, to discourse and
dispute upon this matter, I have sent unto you written and
)enned in the very same terms as they were delivered, having
his eye and regard as much as possible I could, not to repeat
i .nything of that which heretofore I had written touching the
] )olitic precepts of governing the weal-public, for that I see that
; ou have that book often in your hand.

Our forefathers in the old world contented themselves in this :
1 hat they might not be wounded or hurt by strange and savage
1 easts brought from foreign countries, and this was the end of
i 11 those combats that they had against such wild beasts ; but
t hose who came after have learned, moreover, how to make use
( f them; not only take order to keep themselves from receiving
i ny harm or damage by them ; but (that which more is) have the
s cill to draw some commodity from them, feeding of their flesh,
c 'othing their bodies with their wool and hair, curing and
1 ealing their maladies with their gall and rennet, arming them-
s ;lves with their hides and skins; insomuch as now from hence-
f )rth it is to be feared (and not without good cause) lest if beasts
s lould fail, and that there were none to be found of men, their
1 fe should become brutish, poor, needy, and savage. And since
i is so, that whereas other men think it sufficient not to be
c fended or wronged by their enemies, Xenophon writeth :
T hat the wise reap commodity by their adversaries; we have
r D reason to derogate anything from his credit, but to believe
h m in so saying, yea, and we ought to search for the method
a id art to attain and reach unto that benefit, as many of us
(. t leastwise) as cannot possibly live in this world without
e lemies.

The husbandman is not able with all his skill to make all sort
c trees to cast off their wild nature, and become gentle and

33° Plutarch's Morals

domestical. The hunter cannot with all his cunning make tame
and tractable all the savage beasts of the forest; and therefore
they have sought and devised other means and uses to make
the best of them; the one finding good in barren and fruitless
plants, the other in wild and savage beasts. The water of the
sea is not potable, but brackish and hurtful unto us, howbeit,
fishes are nourished therewith, and it serveth man's turn also
to transport passengers (as in a waggon) into all parts, and to
carry whatsoever a man will. When the satyr would have
kissed and embraced fire the first time that ever he saw it,
Prometheus admonished him and said:

Thou wilt bewail thy goat's beard soon,
If thou it touch, 'twill bum anon;

but it yieldeth light and heat, and is an instrument serving all
arts, to as many as know how to use it well; semblably, let us
consider and see whether an enemy, being otherwise harmful and
intractable, or at leastwise hard to be handled, may not in some
sort yield as it were a handle to take hold by, for to touch and
use him so as he may serve our turn and minister unto us some
commodity. For many things there are besides which be
odious, troublesome, cumbrous, hurtful, and contrary unto
those that have them or come near unto them ; and yet you see
that the very maladies of the body give good occasion unto
some for to live at rest and repose; I mean sequestered from
affairs abroad, and the travails presented unto others by fortune,
have so exercised them that they are become thereby strong
and hardy: and to say more yet, banishment and loss of goods
hath been the occasion unto divers, yea, and a singular means
to give themselves to their quiet study and to philosophy; like
as Diogenes and Crates did in times past. Zeno himself, when
news came unto him that his ship wherein he did venture and
traffic was split and cast away: Thou hast done well by me,
fortune (quoth he), to drive me again to my scholar's weed.
For like as those living creatures which are of a most sound
and healthful constitution, and have besides strong stomachs,
are able to concoct and digest the serpents and scorpions which
they devour; nay, some of them there be which are nourished
of stones, scales, and shells, converting the same into their
nutriment by the strength and vehement heat of their spirits;
whereas such as be delicate, tender, soft, and crazy, are ready
to cast and vomit if they taste a little bread only, or do but sip
of wine; even so foolish folk do mar and corrupt even friendship

Profiting by Our Enemies 331

and amity; but those that are wise can skill how to use enmities
to their commodity, and make them serve their turns.

First and foremost therefore, in my conceit, that which in

enmity is most hurtful may turn to be most profitable unto such

as be wary and can take good heed: and what is that, you will

say? Thine enemy, as thou knowest well enough, watcheth

continually, spying and prying into all thine actions, he goeth

about viewing thy whole life, to see where he may find any

vantage to take hold of thee, and where thou liest open that he

may assail and surprise thee; his sight is so quick that it

pierceth not only through an oak, as Lynceus did, or stones

and shells; but also it goeth quite through thy friend, thy

domestical servants, yea, and every familiar of thine with

ivhom thou daily dost converse, for to discover as much as

possibly he can what thou doest or goeth about; he soundeth

md searcheth by undermining and secret ways what thy

designs and purposes be. As for our friends, it chanceth

"nany times that they fall extreme sick, yea, and die thereupon

before we know of it, whiles we defer and put off from day to

day to go and visit them, or make small reckoning of them;

3ut as touching our enemies we are so observant, that we

curiously inquire and hearken even after their very dreams;

;he diseases, the debts, the hard usage of men to their own

vives, and the untoward life between them, are many times

nore unknown unto those whom they touch and concern than

mto their enemy; but above all, he sticketh close unto thy

aults, inquisitive he is after them and those he traceth especially :

md like as the geirs or vultures fly unto the stinking scent of

lead carrions and putrefied carcases, but they have no smell or

cent at all of bodies sound and whole; even so those parts of

)ur life which are diseased, naught and ill-affected, be they that

nove an enemy; to these leap they in great haste who are our

ll-willers, these they seize upon, and are ready to worry and

)luck in pieces ; and this it is that profiteth us most, in that it

ompelleth us to live orderly, to look unto our steps that we

read not awry, that we neither do nor say ought inconsiderately

ir rashly; but always keep our life unblamable, as if we

•bserved a most strict and exquisite diet; and verily, this heedful

< aution, repressing the violent passions of our mind in this sort,

,nd keeping reason at home within doors, engendereth a certain

tudious desire, an intention and will to live uprightly and

/ithout touch: for like as those cities by ordinary wars with

heir neighbour cities, and by continual expeditions and voyages.

332 Plutarch's Morals

learning to be wise, take a love at length unto good laws and
sound government of state; even so they that by occasion of
enmity be forced to live soberly, to save themselves from the
imputation of idleness and negligence, yea, and to do everything
with discretion and to a good and profitable end, through use
and custom shall be brought by little and little (ere they be
aware) unto a certain settled habit that they cannot lightly trip
and do amiss, having their manners framed in passing good
order, with the least helping hand of reason and knowledge
beside; for they who have evermore readily before their eyes
this sentence:

This were alone for Priamus,

And his sons likewise all,-
Oh, how would they rejoice at heart.

In case this should befall,

certes, would quickly be diverted, turned and withdrawn from
such things, whereat their enemies are wont to joy and laugh a
good : see we not many times stage players, chanters, musicians,
and such artificers in open theatres, who serve for the celebration
of any solemnity unto Bacchus or other gods, to play their parts
carelessly, to come unprovided, and to carry themselves I know
not how negligently, nothing forward to shew their cunning and
do their best, when they are by themselves alone and no other
of their own profession in place ? but if it chance that there be
emulation and contention between them and other concurrents
who shall do best, then you shall see them not only to come
better prepared themselves, but also with their instruments in
very good order; then shall you perceive how they will bestir
themselves in trying their strings, in tuning their instruments
more exactly, and in fitting everything about their flutes and
pipes, and assaying them. He then who knoweth that he hath
an enemy ready and provided to be the concurrent in his life,
and the rival of his honour and reputation, will look better to
his ways and stand upon his own guard ; he will (I say) sit fast
and look circumspectly about him to all matters, ordering his
life and behaviour in better sort : for this is one of the properties
of vice, that when we have offended and trespassed, we have
more reverence and stand rather in awe of our enemies lest we
be shamed by them than of our friends. And therefore, Scipio
Nasica, when some there were that both thought and gave out
that the Roman estate was now settled and in safety, considering
that the Carthaginians, who were wont to make head against
them and keep them occupied, were now vanquished and de-

Profiting by Our Enemies 333

feated, the Athenians likewise subdued and brought under
subjection: Nay, marry (quoth he), for it is clean contrary,
and even now are we in greatest danger, being at this pass that
we have left ourselves none to fear, none to reverence.

And hereto, moreover, accordeth well the answer that Diogenes
made, like a philosopher and a man of state indeed: One asked
him how he should be revenged of his enemy: Marry (quoth he),
by being a virtuous and honest man thyself. Men seeing the
horses of their enemies highly accounted of, or their hounds
praised and commended, do grieve thereat, if they perceive also
their land well tilled and husbanded, or their gardens in good
order, fresh, and flowering, they fetch a sigh and sorrow for the
matter. What (think you then) will your enemy do ? how will
he fare, when you shall be seen a just man, wise and prudent,
honest and sober, in words well advised and commendable, in
deeds pure and clean, in diet neat and decent?

Reaping the fruit of wisdom and prudence,
Sown in deep furrow of heart and conscience,
From whence there spring and bud continually
Counsels fuU sage, with fruits abundantly.

Pindarus the poet said: That those who are vanquished and
put to foil, are so tongue-tied that they cannot say a word;
howbeit, this is not simply true, nor holdeth in all, but in such
as perceive themselves overcome by their enemies, in diligence,
goodness, magnanimity, humanity, bounty, and beneficence:
for these be the things (as Demosthenes saith) which stent the
tongue, close up the mouth, stop the wind-pipes and the breath,
and in one word, cause men to be silent and dumb.

Resemble not lewd folk, but them outgo

In virtuous deeds, for this thou mayst well do.

Wouldest thou do thine enemy who hateth thee a great dis-
pleasure indeed ? Never call him by way of reproach, buggerer,
wanton, lascivious, ruffian, scurrile scoffer, or covetous micher;
but take order with thyself to be an honest man every way,
chaste, continent, true in deed and word, courteous and just
to all those that deal with thee: but if thou be driven to let fall
an opprobrious speech, and to revile thine enemy, then take
thou great heed afterwards that thou come not near in any wise
to those vices which thou reproachest him with, enter into
thyself, and examine thine own conscience, search all the comers
thereof, look that there be not in thy soul some putrefied matter
and rotten corruption, for fear lest thine own vice within may

334 Plutarch's Morals

hit thee home, and requite thee again with this verse out of the

tragical poet:

A leech he is, others to cure,
Pester'd himself with sores impure.

If thou chance to upbraid thine enemy with ignorance, and
call him unlearned, take thou greater pains at thy book, love
thou thy study better, and get more learning : if thou twit him
with cowardice, and name him dastard, stir up the vigour of
thine own courage the rather, and shew thyself a man so much
the more ; hast thou given him the terms of beastly whoremaster
or lascivious lecher, wipe out of thy heart the least taint and
spot that remaineth hidden therein of concupiscence and sen-
suality; for nothing is there more shameful or causeth greater
grief oif heart, than an opprobrious and reproachful speech
returned justly upon the author thereof. And as it seemeth
that the reverberation of a light doth more offence unto the
feeble eyes, even so those reproaches which are retorted and
sent back again by the truth, upon a man that blazed them
before, are more offensive : for no less than the north-east wind
Csecias doth gather unto it clouds, so doth a bad life draw unto
it opprobrious speeches; which Plato knowing well enough,
whensoever he was present in place, and saw other men do any
unseemly or dishonest thing, was wont to retire apart, and say
thus secretly unto himself: Do not I also labour otherwhile of this
disease ? Moreover, he that hath blamed and reproached the
life of another, if presently withal he would go and examine his
own, reforming the same accordingly, redressing and amending
all that he finds amiss, until he have brought it to a better state,
shall receive some profit by that reproving and reviling of his ;
otherwise it may both seem (as it is no less indeed) a vain and
unprofitable thing.

Commonly men cannot choose but laugh when they see either
a bald-pate or a hunch-back to taunt and scoff at others for the
same defects or deformities ; and so in truth, it were a ridiculous
thing and a mere mockery, to blame or reproach another in that
for which he may be mocked and reproached himself. Thus
Leo the Byzantine cut one home that was crumped-shouldered
and hunched-backed, when he seemed to hit him in the teeth with
his dim and feeble eyesight: Dost thou twit me (quoth he) by
any imperfection of nature incident unto a man, whenas thyself
art marked from heaven, and earnest the divine vengeance upon
thy back? Never then reprove thou an adulterer, if thyself be
an unclean wanton with boys; nor seem thou to upbraid one

Profiting by Our Enemies 335

with prodigality, if thou be a covetous miser thyself. Alcmaeon
reviled Adrastus (upon a time) in this wise: Thou

A sister hast by parents twain,

Whose hands her husband dear have slain.

But what answered Adrastus? He objected not unto him the

crime of another, but payeth him home with his own, after this

manner :

But thou thyself hast murder'd

Thine own kind mother, who thee bred.

In like sort, when Domitius (upon a time) seemed to reproach
Crassus, saying: Is it not true, that when your lamprey was
dead which was kept full daintily for you in a stew, you wept
therefore? Crassus presently came upon him again with this
bitter reply: And is it not true, that you, when you followed
three wives of yours one after another to their funeral fire, never
shed tear for the matter? It is not so requisite or necessary
iwis (as the vulgar sort do think) that he who checketh and
rebuketh another should have a ready wit of his own and a
natural gift in doing it, or a loud and big voice, or an audacious
and bold face; no, but such an one he ought to be, that cannot
be noted and taxed with any vice: for it should seem that
Apollo addressed this precept of his [Know thyself] to no person
so much as to him who would blame and find fault with another;
for fear lest such men, in speaking to others what they would,
hear that again which they would not. For it happeneth
ordinarily as Sophocles saith: That such an one

Who lets his tongue run foolishly,
In noting others bitterly,
Shall hear himself (unwillingly)
The words he gave so wilfully.

Lo, what commodity and profit ensueth upon reproaching an
enemy !

Neither cometh there less good and advantage unto a man by
being reproached by another, and hearing himself reviled by his
enemies : and therefore it was well and truly said of Antisthenes,
that such men as would be saved and become honest another
day, ought of necessity to have either good friends, or most
spiteful and bitter enemies : for as they with their kind remon-
strances and admonitions, so these with their reproachful terms
were like to reform their sinful life. But forasmuch as amity
and friendship nowadays speaketh with a small and low voice
when faults should freely be reproved, and is very audible and
full of words in flattering, altogether mute and dumb in rebukes

33^

Plutarch's Morals

and chastisements ; but what remaineth now but that we should
hear the truth from the mouth of our enemies ? much like unto
Telephus, who for default of a physician that was a friend to
cure him, was forced to commit his wound or ulcer to the iron
head of his enemy's spear for to be healed; and even so those
that have no well-willers that dare freely reprove their faults,
must perforce endure with patience the stinging tongue of their
enemy and evil-wilier in chastising and rebuking their vices,
not regarding so much the intent and meaning of the ill speaker,
as the thing itself, and the matter that he speaketh; and look
how he who enterprised the killing of Prometheus the Thessalian
ran him so deep with his sword into the impostume or swelling
botch which he had about him, that he let forth the corruption,
and saved his life by the breaking and issue thereof; even so for
all the world it falleth out many times that a reproachful speech
delivered in anger or upon evil will is the cause of healing some
malady of the soul, either hidden or unknown altogether, or else
neglected: but the most part of those who are in this manner
reproached, never consider whether the vice wherewith they are
touched be in them or no, but they look rather if they can find
some other vice to object unto him who hath thus challenged
them; and much like unto wrestlers, they never wipe away
their own dust, that is to say, the reproaches that be fastened
upon themselves, and wherewith they be defamed, but they
bestrew one another with dust, and afterwards trip up one
another's heels, and tumble down one upon another, weltering
in the same, and soiling one another therewith : whereas indeed
it behoved rather that a man when he findeth himself tainted
by his enemy, to endeavour for to do away that vice where-
with he is noted and defamed, much rather than to fetch out
any spot or stain out of his garment which hath been shewed
him: and although there be charged upon us some slanderous
imputation that is not true, yet nevertheless we are to search
into the occasion whereupon such an opprobrious speech might
arise and proceed, yea, and take heed we must and fear, lest ere
we be aware we commit the like or come near unto that which
hath been objected unto us.

Thus, for example sake, Lacydes, king of the Argives, for that
he did wear his hair curiously set, in manner of a peruke, and
because his gait or manner of going seemed more delicate and
nice than ordinary, grew into an ill name and obloquy of
effeminate wantonness. And Pompeius the Great could not
avoid the like suspicion, because he used otherwhiles to scratch

Profiting by Our Enemies 337

his head with one finger only, and yet otherwise he was so far
from feminine wantonness and incontinence as any man in the
world. Crassus was accused for to have had carnal company
with one of the religious nuns or votaries of Vesta, for that being
desirous to purchase of her a fair piece of land and house of
pleasure which she had, he resorted oftentimes privately unto
her, spake with her apart, and perhaps made court unto her
for to have her goodwill in that respect only. Posthumia like-
wise, another vestal virgin, for that she was given much to
laugh upon a small occasion, and withal would not stick to
entertain talk with men, more boldly peradventure than became
a maiden of her profession, was so deeply suspected of incon-
tinence, that she was brought judicially into question about it,
howbeit found unguilty, and acquit she was ; but when Spurius
Minutius, the high-priest for the time being, assoiled her and
pronounced the sentence of her absolution, minding to dismiss
her of the court, he gave her a gentle admonition by the way,
that from thenceforward she should forbear to use any words
less modest and chaste than the carriage of her life was. Themis-
tocles likewise, notwithstanding he was most innocent indeed,
was called into question for treason because he entertained
amity with Pausanias, sent and wrote oftentimes unto him, and
so by that means gave suspicion that he minded to betray all
Greece.

Whenas therefore thou art charged with a false crimination
by thine enemy, thou must not neglect it and make small
account thereof because it is not true, but rather look about
thee and examine what hath been done or said, either by thee
or any one of those who affect and love thee, or converse with
thee, sounding and tending any way to that imputation which
might give occasion or likelihood thereof, and carefully to
beware and avoid the same : for if by adverse and heavy fortune
whereunto others have inconsiderately fallen, they are dearly
taught what is good for them, as Merope saith in one tragedy:

Fortune hath taken for her salary
My dearest goods of which I am bereft,
But me she taught by that great misery
For to be wise, and so she hath me left :

what should let or hinder us, but that we may learn by a
master that costeth us nought, nor taketh nothing for his
teaching (even our enemy) to profit and learn somewhat that we
knew not before? for an enemy perceiveth and findeth in us
many things more than a friend, by reason that (as Plato saith)

338 Plutarch's Morals

that which loveth is always bhnd in the thing that is loved;
whereas he who hateth us, besides that he is very curious and
inquisitive into our imperfections, he is not meal-mouthed (as
they say)^ nor will spare to speak, but is ready enough to
divulge and blaze all abroad. King Hiero chanced upon a time,
being at words with one of his enemies, to be told in reproachful
manner by him of his stinking breath; whereupon being some-
what dismayed in himself, he was no sooner returned home to
his own house but he chid his wife: How comes this to pass
(quoth he) ? what say you to it ? how happeneth it that you never
told me of it? The woman being a simple, chaste, and harmless
dame: Sir (saith she), I had thought all men's breath had
smelled so. Thus it is plain that such faults as be object and
evident to the senses, gross and corporal, or otherwise notorious
to the world, we know by our enemies sooner than by our friends
and familiars.

Over and besides, as touching the continence and holding of
the tongue, which is not the least point of virtue, it is not possible
for a man to rule it always, and bring it within the compass and
obedience of reason, unless by use and exercise, by long custom
and painful labour he have tamed and mastered the worst
passions of the soul, such as anger is: for a word that hath
escaped us against our wills, which we would gladly have kept
in; of which Homer saith thus:

Out of the mouth a word did fly
For all the range of teeth fast-by.

And a speech that we let fall at aventure (a thing happening

oftentimes, and especially unto those whose spirits are not well

exercised, and who want experience, who run out, as it were,

and break forth into passions), this (I say) is ordinary with such

as be hasty and choleric, whose judgment is not settled and

staid, or who are given to a licentious course of life : for such a

word, being (as divine Plato saith) the lightest thing in the

world, both gods and men have many a time paid a most

grievous and heavy penalty; whereas silence is not only (as

Hippocrates saith) good against thirst, but also is never called

to account, nor amerced to pay any fine; and that which more

is, in the bearing and putting up of taunts and reproaches, there

is observed in it a kind of gravity beseeming the person of

Socrates, or rather the magnanimity of Hercules, if it be true

that the poet said of him:

Of bitter words he less account did make
Than doth the fly, which no regard doth take.

Profiting by Our Enemies 339

Neither verily is there a thing of greater gravity, or simply better,

than to hear a malicious enemy to revile, and yet not to be

moved nor grow into passions therewith :

But to pass by a man that loves to rail.
As rock in sea, by which we swim or sail.

Moreover, a greater effect will ensue upon this exercise of
patience, if thou canst accustom thyself to hear with silence
thine enemy whiles he doth revile; for being acquainted there-
with, thou shalt the better endure the violent fits of a curst
and shrewd wife chiding at home; to hear also without trouble
the sharp words of friend or brother; and if it chance that father
or mother let fly bitter rebukes at thee or beat thee, thou wilt
suffer all, and never shew thyself displeased and angry with
them. For Socrates was wont to abide at home Xantippe his
wife, a perilous shrewd woman and hard to be pleased, to the
end that he might with more ease converse with others, being
used to endure her curstness. But much better it were for a
man to come with a mind prepared and exercised beforehand
with hearing the scoffs, railing language, angry taunts, out-
rageous and foul words of enemies and strangers, and that
without anger and shew of disquietness, than of his domestical
people within his own house. Thus you see how a man may
shew his meekness and patience in enmities; and as for sim-
plicity, magnanimity and a good nature indeed, it is more seen
here than in friendship : for it is not so honest and commendable
to do good unto a friend, as dishonest, not to succour him when
he standeth in need and requesteth it.

Moreover, to forbear to be revenged of an enemy if oppor-
tunity and occasion is offered, and to let him go when he is in
thy hands, is a point of great humanity and courtesy; but him
that hath compassion of him when he is fallen into adversity,
succoureth him in distress, at his request is ready for to shew
goodwill to his children, and an affection to sustain the state of
his house and family being in affliction; whosoever doth not
love for this kindness, nor praise the goodness of his nature:

Of colour black (no doubt) and tincture sweart,
Wrought of stiff steel or iron he hath an heart,
Or rather forg'd out of the diament,
Which will not stir hereat, nor once relent.

Caesar commanded that the statues erected in the honour of
Pompeius, which had been beaten down and overthrown, should
be set up again; for which act Cicero said thus unto him: In
rearing the images of Pompeius, 0 Cassar, thou hast pitched and

34© Plutarch's Morals

erected thine own. And therefore we ought not to be sparing
of praise and honour in the behalf of an enemy, especially when
he deserveth the same; for by this means the party that
praiseth shall win the greater praise himself; and besides, if it
happen again that he blame the said enemy, his accusation shall
be the better taken, and carry the more credit, for that he shall
be thought not so much to hate the person as disallow and
mislike his action.

But the most profitable and goodliest matter of all is this:
That he who is accustomed to praise his enemies, and neither
to grieve nor envy at their welfare, shall the better abide the
prosperity of his friend, and be furthest off from envying his
familiars in any good success or honour that by well-doing they
have achieved. And is there any other exercise in the world
that can bring greater profit unto our souls, or work a better
disposition and habit in them, than that which riddeth us of
emulation and the humour of envy ? For like as in a city wherein
there be many things necessary, though otherwise simply evil,
after they have once taken sure footing and are by custom
established in manner of a law, men shall hardly remove and
abolish, although they have been hurt and endamaged thereby;
even so enmity, together with hatred and malice, bringeth in envy,
jealousy, contentment, and pleasure in the harm of an enemy,
remembrance of wrongs received, and offences passed, which it
leaveth behind in the soul when itself is gone; over and besides,
cunning practices, fraud, guile, deceit, and secret forlayings or
ambushes, which seem against our enemies nothing ill at all,
nor unjustly used, after they be once settled and have taken
root in our hearts, remain there fast, and hardly or unneth are
removed ; insomuch as if men take not heed how they use them
against enemies, they shall be so inured to them that they will
be ready afterwards to practise the same with their very
friends.

If therefore Pythagoras did well and wisely in acquainting his
scholars to forbear cruelty and injustice, even as far as to dumb
and brute beasts; whereupon he misliked fowlers, and would
request them to let those birds fly again which they had caught;
yea, and buy of fishers whole draughts of fishes, and give order
unto his disciples to put them alive into the water again, inso-
much as he expressly forbade the killing of any tame beast
whatsoever; certes, it is much more grave and decent that in
quarrels, debates, and contentions among men, an enemy that is
of a generous mind, just, true, and nothing treacherous, should

Profiting by Our Enemies 34!

repress, keep down and hold under foot the wicked, malicious,
cautelous, base, and ungentleman-like passions; to the end that
afterwards in all contracts and dealings with his friend they
break not out, but that his heart being clear of them, he may
abstain from all mischievous practices.

Scaurus was a professed enemy and an accuser of Domitius
judicially; now there was a domestical servant belonging to the
said Domitius, who before the day of trial and judgment came
unto Scaurus saying that he would discover unto him a thing
that he knew not of, the which might serve him in good stead
when he should plead against his master; but Scaurus would
not so much as give him the hearing; nay, he laid hold on the
party, and sent him away bound unto his lord and master.
Cato (the younger) charged Muraena, and indicted him in open
court for popularity and ambition, declaring against him that
he sought indirectly to gain the people's favour and their voices
to be chosen consul; now as he went up and down to collect
arguments and proofs thereof, and according to the manner and
custom of the Romans, was attended upon by certain persons
who followed him in the behalf of the defendant, to observe what
was done for his better instruction in the process and suit com-
menced, these fellows would oftentimes be in hand with him
and ask whether he would to-day search for ought, or negotiate
anything in the matter and cause concerning Muraena? If he
said No, such credit and trust they reposed in the man that they
would rest in that answer, and go their ways; a singular argu-
ment this was of all other to prove his reputation, and what
opinion men conceived of him for his justice; but sure a far
greater testimony is this, and that passeth all the rest, to prove
that if we be accustomed to deal justly by our very enemies,
we shall never shew ourselves unjust, cautelous, and deceitful
with our friends. But forasmuch as every lark (as Simonides
was wont to say) must needs have a cop or crest growing upon
her head; and so likewise all men by nature do carry in their
head I wot not what jealousy, emulation and envy, which is, if
I may use the words of Pindarus :

A mate and fellow (to be plain)

Of brain-sick fools and persons vain.

A man should not reap a small benefit and commodity by dis-
charging these passions upon his enemies, to purge and cleanse
himself quite thereof, and as it were by certain gutters or channels,
^ to derive and drain them as far as possibly he can from his

342 Plutarch's Morals

friends and familiar acquaintance; whereof I suppose Onoma-
demus, a great politician and wise statesman in the isle Chios,
was well advised, who in a civil dissension being sided to that
faction which was superior, and had gotten the head of the
other, counselled the rest of his part not to chase and banish
out of the city all their adversaries, but to leave some of them
still behind: For fear (quoth he) lest having no enemies to
quarrel withal, we ourselves begin to fall out and go together
by the ears ; semblably if we spend these vicious passions of ours
upon our enemies, the less are they like to trouble and molest
our friends : for it ought not thus to be as Hesiodus saith : That
the potter should envy the potter; or one minstrel or musician
spite another; neither is it necessary that one neighbour should
be in jealousy of another; or cousins and brethren be con-
currents and have emulation one at another, either striving to
be rich or speeding better in their affairs : for if there be no other
way or means to be delivered wholly from contentions, envies,
jealousies, and emulations, acquaint thyself at leastwise to be
stung and bitten at the good success of thine enemies; whet
the edge and sharpen the point (as it were) of thy quarrellous
and contentious humour, and turn it upon them and spare not:
for like as the most skilful and best gardeners are of this opinion,
that they shall have the sweeter roses and more pleasant violets
if they set garlick or sow onions near unto them, for that all the
strong and stinking savour in the juice that feedeth and nourish
the said flowers, is purged away and goeth to the said garlick
and onions; even so an enemy drawing unto himself and
receiving all our envy and malice, will cause us to be better
affected to our friends in their prosperity, and less offended if
they outgo us in their estate; and therefore in this regard
we must contend and strive with our enemies about honour,
dignities, government, and lawful means of advancing our own
estates, and not only to be grieved and vexed to see them have
the better and the vantage of us, but also to mark and observe
everything whereby they become our superiors, and so to strain
and endeavour by careful diligence, by labour and travail, by
parsimony, temperance, and looking nearly to ourselves, to sur-
pass and go beyond them; like as Themistocles was wont to say:
That the victory which Miltiades achieved in the plain of
Marathon brake his sleeps, and would not let him take his
night's rest: for he who thinketh that his enemy surmounteth
him in dignities, in patronage of high matters and pleading of
great causes, in management of state affairs, or in credit and

Profiting by Our Enemies 343

authority with mighty men and grand seigniors, and instead of
striving to enterprise and do some great matter by way of
emulation, betaketh himself to envy only, and so sits still doing
nothing, and loseth all his courage, surely he bewrayeth that he
is possessed with naught else but an idle, vain, and enervate
kind of envy.

But he that is not blinded with the regard and sight of him
whom he hateth, but with a right and just eye doth behold and
consider all his life, his manners, designs, words, and deeds, shall
soon perceive and find that the most part of those things which
he envieth were achieved and gotten by such as have them, with
their diligence, wisdom, forecast, and virtuous deeds : he there-
upon bending all his spirits and whole mind thereto, will exercise
(I trow) and sharpen his own desire of honour, glory, and honesty,
yea, and cut off contrariwise that yawning drowsiness and idle
sloth that is in his heart. Set case, moreover, that our enemies
by flattery, by cautelous shifts and cunning practices, by
pleading of cases at the bar, or by their mercenary and illiberal
service in unhonest and foul matters, seem to have gotten some
power, either with princes in courts, or with the people in states
and cities; let the same never trouble us, but contrariwise cheer
up our hearts and make us glad in regard of our own liberty,
the pureness of our life and innocency unreproachable, which
we may oppose against those indirect courses and unlawful
means. For all the gold that is either above ground or under-
neath (according as Plato saith) is not able to weigh against
virtue. And evermore this sentence of Solon we ought to have
in readiness:

Many a wicked man is rich.

And virtuous men are many poor:

But change we never will with sich,

Nor give our goodness for their store;

And why? virtue is durable,

Whereas their wealth is mutable ; '

much less then will we exchange the acclamations and shouts
of a popular multitude in theatres, which are won with a feast;
nor the honours and prerogatives to sit uppermost at a table
near unto the chamberlains, minions, favourites, concubines or
lieutenants-general of kings and princes. For nothing is de-
sirable, nothing to be effected, nothing indeed honest that
proceedeth from an unhonest cause: But he that loveth (accord-
ing as Plato saith) is always blinded by the thing which is loved,
and sooner do we perceive and mark any unseemly thing that

344 Plutarch's Morals

our enemies do. Howbeit, to conclude, neither our joy and
contentment conceived by observing them to do amiss, nor our
grief and displeasure in seeing them do well, ought to be idle
and unprofitable unto us; but this reckoning and account we
are to make of both; that in taking heed how we fall into their
faults we may become better, and in imitating their good parts
not worse than they.

HOW A MAN MAY PERCEIVE HIS OWN
PROCEEDING AND GOING FORWARD
IN VIRTUE

THE SUMMARY

[Hardly can it be defined whether of these two extremities is
more to be feared, to wit, blockish stupidity or vain presumption,
considering the dangerous effects proceeding as well from the one
as the other. And contrariwise, an excellent matter it is to be able
for to teach men the means to avoid both extremes, and to hold the
mean between. And this is the very thing that our author doth
in this present treatise: for as he laboureth to disrobe as it were
the lovers of virtue and turn them out of their habit of perverse
ignorance, wherewith most part of the world is always clad; so he
is desirous to keep them from putting on the habiliment and gar-
ments of pride and vain ostentation, that they might be arrayed
with the apparel of virtue, in such sort that in taking knowledge of
that good whereof they have already some part, they might en-
deavour and do what they can to get a greater portion from day to
day, until they come unto an assured contentment wherein they
may rest. Then teacheth he how to know what a man hath profited
in the school and exercise of virtue, shewing that he ought to con-
sider first, whether he recoil from vice by little and little; wherein
he confuteth the opinion of the Stoics, who imagined that no man
was good unless he became virtuous all at once. This done, he
adjoineth four rules to know the said profit and progress in virtue,
to wit. When we perceive our heart to tend unto good without
ajiy intermission: When our affection redeemeth and regaineth the
time that is lost, growing so much the more, as it was before stayed
and hindered : When we begin to take our whole pleasure and delight
therein : lastly, When we surmount and overcome all impeachments
that might turn us aside out of the way of virtue. After all this,
he entereth into the matter more specially, and showeth how a man
is to employ himself in the study of wisdom; what vices he ought
to fly; wherein his mind and spirits should be occupied; and the
profit that he is to reap and gather from philosophers, poets, and
historians. Item, with what affection we ought to speak in the
presence of our neighbours, whether it be publicly or in private; of
what sort our actions should be; and to what end and scope we
are to address and direct them, giving a lustre unto all these dis-
courses by excellent similitudes; taxing and reproving the faults
committed ordinarily by them who make a certain semblance and
outwEird shew of aspiring unto virtue. Having thus discoursed of

345

346 Plutarch's Morals

these points aforesaid, he proposeth and setteth down again divers
rules which may resolve us in this advancement and proceeding
forward of ours in goodness, namely, That we ought to love repre-
hensions; to take heed even unto our dreams; to examine our
passions, and so to hope well if we perceive that they wax mild and
gentle to imitate good things ; in no wise to hear any speech of evil ;
to'Jtake example by the best persons, to rejoice and be glad, to have
witnesses and beholders of our goodwill and intention; and not to
esteem any sins or trespasses small, but to avoid and shun them all :
last of all, he closeth up his treatise with an elegant similitude,
wherein he discovereth and layeth open the nature as well of the
vicious as the virtuous, thereby to make the means of aspiring and
attaining unto virtue so much the more amiable to each person.]

It is not possible (my good friend Sossius Senecio) that a man
by any means should have a feeling in himself, and a conscience
of his own amendment and progress in virtue, if those good
proceedings do not daily make some diminution of his folly, but
that the vice in him weighing in equal balance against them all,
do hold him down

Like as the lead plucks down the net,
Which for to catch the fish was set.

For so verily in the art of music or grammar a man shall never
know how far he is proceeded, so long as in the studying and
learning thereof he diminish no part of his ignorance in those
arts, but still findeth himself as unmusical and unlettered as he
was before; neither the cure which the physician employeth
about his patient, if it work no amendment at all, nor alleviation
of the disease seeming in some sort to yield unto medicines and
to slake, can procure any sensible difference and change unto a
better state, before that the contrary disposition and habit be
restored perfectly to the former health, and the body made
sound and strong again. But certainly, as in these cases there
is no amendment to be accounted of, if those that seem to
amend do not perceive the change by the diminution and remis-
sion of that which weighed them down, and find themselves to
incline and bend (as it were) in a balance to the contrary;
even so it fareth with those that make profession of philosophy;
it cannot be granted that there is any progress or sense at all
of profiting, so long as the soul cast not off by little and little
and purge away her folly, but until such time as she can attain
(forsooth) unto the sovereign and perfect good, continueth in the
meanwhile fully possessed of vice and sin in the highest degree ;
for by this means it would follow, if at one instant and moment

Of Proceeding in Virtue 347

of time a wise man should pass from extreme wickedness unto
the supreme and highest disposition of virtue: That he had all
at once and in the minute of an hour fled vice and cast it from
him fully, whereof in a long time before he was not able to be
rid of one little portion.

But you know full well already that those who hold such
extravagant opinions as these make themselves work enough,
and raise great doubts and questions about this point, namely,
how a man should not perceive and feel himself when he is
become wise, and be either ignorant or doubtful that this growth
and increase cometh in long process of time by little and little,
partly by addition of something, and partly by subtraction of
other, until one arrive gently unto virtue, before he can perceive
that he is going toward it. Now if there were so quick and
sudden a mutation, as that he who was to-day morning most
vicious should become in the evening as virtuous ; and if there
ever were known to happen unto any man such a change, that
going to bed a very fool and so sleeping, should awake and rise
a wise man, and taking his leave of yesterday's follies, errors,
and deceits, say unto them:

My lying dreams so vain, a-day, a-day,

Nought worth you were, I now both see and say.

Is it possible that such a one (I say) should be ignorant of this
sudden change, and not perceive so great a difference in himself,
nor feel how wisdom all at once hath thus lightened and illu-
minated his soul? For mine own part, I would rather think that
one upon earnest prayer transformed by the power of the gods
from a woman to a man (as the tale goes of Caeneus) should
be ignorant of this metamorphosis, than he who of a coward, a
fool, and a dissolute or loose person become hardy, wise, sober,
and temperate ; or being transported from a sensual and beastly
life unto a divine and heavenly life, should not mark the very
instant wherein such a change did befall. But well it was said
in old time : That the stone is to be applied and framed unto the
rule, and not the rule or square unto the stone. And they (the
Stoics, I mean) who are not willing to accommodate their
opinions unto the things indeed, but wrest and force against the
course of nature things unto their own conceits and suppositions,
have filled all philosophy with great difficulties and doubtful
ambiguities; of which this is the greatest: In that they will
seem to comprise all men, excepting him only whom they imagine
perfect, under one and the same vice in general : which strange

34^ Plutarch's Morals

supposition of theirs hath caused that this progress and pro-'
ceeding to virtue, called UpoKo-rr-q, seemeth to be a dark and
obscure riddle unto them, or a mere fiction little wanting of
extreme folly; and those who by the means of this amendment
be delivered from all passions and vices that be, are held thereby
to be in no better state, nor less wretched and miserable, than
those who are not free from any one of the most enormous vices
in the world; and yet they refute and condemn their own selves;
for in the disputations which they hold in their schools they set
the injustice of Aristides in equal balance to that of Phalaris;
they make the cowardice and fear of Brasides all one with that
of Dolon; yea, and compare the folly or error of Miletus and
Plato together, as in no respect different; howbeit, in the whole
course of their life and management of their affairs they decline
and avoid those as implacable and intractable; but these they
use and trust in their most important business as persons of
great worth and regard : but we who know and see that in every
kind of sin or vice, but principally in the inordinate and confused
state of the soul, there be degrees according to more or less;
and that herein differ our proceedings and amendments, accord-
ing as reason by little and little doth illuminate, purge, and
cleanse the soul in abating and diminishing evermore the
viciosity thereof, which is the shadow that darkeneth it, are
likewise fully persuaded that it is not without reason to be
assured that men may have an evident sense and perceivance of
this mutation, but as if they were raised out of some deep and
dark pit, that the same amendment may be reckoned by degrees
in what order it goeth forward. In which computation we may
go first and foremost directly after this manner, and consider
whether, like as they who under sail set their course in the main
and vast ocean, by observing together with the length and space
of time, the force of the wind that driveth them, do cast and
measure how far they have gone forward in their voyage, namely,
by a probable conjecture how much in such a time and with such
a gale of wind it is like that they may pass ; so also in philosophy
a man may give a guess and conjecture of his proceeding and
going forward, namely, what he may gain by continual marching
on still, -without stay or intermission otherwhiles in the midst of
the way, and then beginning afresh again to leap forward, but
always keeping one pace, gaining and getting ground still by the
guidance of reason. For this rule :

If little still to little thou do add,

A heap at length and mickle will be had.

Of Proceeding in Virtue 349

was not given respectively to the increase of sums of money
alone, and in that point truly spoken, but it may likewise extend
and reach to other things, and namely to the augmentation of
virtue, to wit, when with reason and doctrine continual use and
custom is joined, which maketh mastery and is effectual to bring
any work to end and perfection ; whereas these intermissions at
times without order and equality, and these cool affections of
those that study philosophy, make not only many stays and lets
in proceeding forward as it were in a journey, but that which is
worse, cause going backward, by reason that vice, which ever-
more lies in wait to set upon a man that idly standeth still never
so little, haleth him a contrary way. True it is that the mathe-
maticians do call the planets stationary, and say they stand still,
while they cease to move forward ; but in our progress and pro-
ceeding in philosophy, that is to say, in the correction of our
life and manners, there can be admitted no interval, no pause
or cessation, for that our wit naturally being in perpetual motion
in manner of a balance, always casteth with the least thing that
is, one way or other, willing of itself either to incline with the
better or else is forcibly carried by the contrary to the worse.
If then, according to ihe oracle delivered unto the inhabitants
of Cirrha, which willed them, if they minded afterwards to live
in peace, they should make war both night and day without
intermission, thou find in thyself and thine own conscience
that thou hast fought continually with vice as well by night as
by day, or at leastwise that thou hast not often left thy ward,
and abandoned thy station in the garrison, nor continually
admitted the heralds or messengers between coming from far
as it were to parley and compound, to wit, pleasures, delights,
negligences and amusements upon other matters, by all likeli-
hood thou mayst with confidence and alacrity be assured to go
forward and make an end of thy course behind.

Moreover, say that there fall out some interruptions and stays
between, that thou live not altogether canonically and like a
philosopher; yet if thy latter proceedings be more constant than
the former, and the fresh courses that thou takest longer than
the other, it is no bad sign, but it testifieth that by labour and
exercise idleness is conquered and sloth utterly chased away;
whereas the contrary is a very ill sign, to wit, if by reason of
many cessations and those coming thick one after another, the
heat of the former affection be cooled, languish and weareth to
nothing: for like as the shoot of a cane or reed, whiles it hath
the full strength and greatest force putteth forth the first stem

350 Plutarch's Morals

reaching out in length, straight, even, smooth, and united in the
beginning, admitting few knots in great distances between, to
stay and put back the growth and rising thereof in height; but
afterwards as if it were checked to mount up aloft by reason of
short wind and failing of the breath, it is held down by many
knots, and those near one to another, as if the spirit therein which
coveteth upward found some inpeachment by the way, smiting
it back, and causing it as it were to pant and tremble ; even so
as many as at first took long courses and made haste unto
philosophy or amendment of life, and then afterwards meet
eftsoons with stumbling-blocks, continually turning them out of
the direct way, or other means to distract and pluck them aside,
finding no proceeding at all to better them, in the end are weary,
give over, and come short of their journey's end; whereas the
other abovesaid hath his wings growing still to help his flight, and
by reason of the fruit which he findeth in his course goeth on
apace, cutteth off all pretences of excuse, breaketh through all
lets (which stand as a multitude in the way to hinder his passage),
which he doth by fine force and with an industrious affection to
attain unto the end of his enterprise. And like as to joy and
delight in beholding of beauty present is not a sign of love
beginning, for a vulgar and common thing this is, but rather to
be grieved and vexed when the same is gone or taken away; even
so many there be who conceive pleasure in philosophy, and make
semblance as if they had a fervent desire to the study thereof;
but if it chance that they be a little retired from it by occasion
of other business and affairs, that first affection which they
took unto it vanisheth away, and they can well abide to be
without philosophy:

But he who feels indeed the prick
Of love that pierceth near the quick,

as one poet saith; will seem unto thee moderate and nothing
hot in frequenting the philosophical school and conferring to-
gether with thee about philosophy; but let him be plucked
from it, and drawn apart from thee, thou shaft see him enflamed
in the love thereof, impatient and weary of all other affairs and
occupations; thou shalt perceive him even to forget his own
friends, such a passionate desire he will have to philosophy.
For we ought not so much to delight in learning and philosophy
whiles we are in place, as we do in sweet odours, perfumes, and
ointments, and when we are away and separated therefrom,
never grieve thereat, nor seek after it any more; but it must

Of Proceeding in Virtue 351

imprint in our hearts a certain passion like to hunger and thirst
when it is taken from us, if we will profit in good earnest and
perceive our own progress and amendment; whether it be that
marriage, riches, some friendship, expedition or warfare come
between, that may drive him away and make separation, for
the greater that the fruit is which he gathered by philosophy, so
much the more will the grief be to leave and forgo it.

To this first sign of progress in philosophy may be added
another of great antiquity out of Hesiodus; which if it be not
the very same, certes, it cometh near unto it, and this he
describeth after this sort, namely, when a man findeth the way
no more difficult, rough, and craggy, nor exceeding steep and
upright, but easy, plain, with a gentle descent, as being indeed
laid even and smooth by exercise, and wherein now there begins
light clearly to appear and shine out of darkness, instead of
doubts, ambiguities, errors, and those repentances and changes
of mind incident unto those who first betake themselves to the
study of philosophy; after the manner of them who, having
left behind them a land which they know well enough, are
troubled whiles they cannot descry and discover that for which
they set sail and bend their course ; for even so it is with these
persons who, when they have abandoned these common and
familiar studies whereto they were inured before they came, to
learn, apprehend, and enjoy better, oftentimes in the very middle
of their course are carried round about and driven to return
back again the same way they came. Like as it is reported of
Sexius, a noble man of Rome, who having given over the honour-
able offices and magistracies in the city, for love of philosophy,
afterwards finding himself much troubled in that study, and not
able at the beginning to brook and digest the reasons and dis-
courses thereof, was so perplexed that he went very near to have
thrown himself into the sea out of a galley.

The semblable example we read in histories of Diogenes the
Sinopian, when he first went to the study and profession of
philosophy: for when about the same time it chanced that the
Athenians celebrated a public solemnity with great feasting and
sumptuous fare, with theatrical plays and pastimes, meeting in
companies and assemblies to make merry one with another, with
revels and dances all night long, himself in an odd corner of the
market-place lay lapped round in his clothes, purposing to take
a, nap and sleep ; where and when he fell into certain fantastical
imaginations which did not a little turn and trouble his brains,
yea, and break his heart, discoursing thus in his head: That he

352 Plutarch's Morals

upon no constraint or necessity should thus wilfully betake
himself to a laborious and strange course of painful life, sitting
thus by himself mopish, sequestered from all the world, and
deprived of all earthly goods; In which thoughts and conceits
of his he spied (as the report goeth) a little mouse creeping and
running towards the crumbs that were fallen from his loaf of
bread, and was very busy about them, whereupon he took heart
again, reproved and blamed his own feeble courage, saying thus
to himself: What sayest thou, Diogenes? Seest thou not this
silly creature what good cheer it maketh with thy leavings?
how merry she is whiles she feedeth thereupon? and thou (like
a trim man indeed as thou art) dost wail, weep, and lament
that thou drinkest not thyself drunk as those do yonder; nor
lie in soft and delicate beds, richly set out with gay and costly
furniture.

Now when such temptations and distractions as these be
return not often, but the rule and discourse of reason presently
riseth up against them, maketh head, turneth upon them sud-
denly again (as it were) in the chase and pursued in the route
by enemies, and so quickly discomfiteth and dispatcheth the
anxiety and despair of the mind, then a man may be assured
that he hath profited indeed in the school of philosophy, and
is well settled and confirmed therein. But forasmuch as the
occasions which do thus shake men that are given to philosophy,
yea, and otherwhiles pluck them a contrary way, do not only
proceed from themselves by reason of their own infirmity and so
gather strength; but the sad and serious counsels also of friends,
together with the reproofs and contradictory assaults made upon
them by adversaries, between good earnest and game, do mollify
their tender hearts, and make them to bow, bend, and yield,
which otherwhiles have been able in the end to drive some alto-
gether from philosophy, who were well entered therein: It may
be thought no small sign of good proceeding, if one can endure
the same meekly without being moved with such temptations,
or any ways troubled and pinched when he shall hear the names
and surnames of such and such companions and equals otherwise
of his who are come to great credit and wealth in princes' courts;
or be advanced by marriages, matching with wives who brought
them good dowries and portions; or who are wont to go into
the common hall of a city, attended upon and accompanied with
a train and troop of the multitude, either to attain unto some
place of government, or to plead some notable cause of great
consequence : for he that is not disquieted, astonied, or overcome

Of Proceeding in Virtue 353

with such assaults, certain it is and we may be bold to conclude
that he is arrested (as it were) and held sure as he ought to be
by philosophy. For it is not possible for any to cease affecting
and loving those things which the multitude doth so highly
honour and adore, unless they be such as admire nothing else
in the world but virtue. For to brave it out, to contest, and
make head against men is a thing incident unto some by occasion
of choler, unto others by reason of folly; but to contemn and
despise that which others esteem with admiration, no man is able
to perform without a great measure of true and resolute mag-
nanimity: In which respect such persons, comparing their state
with others, magnify themselves, as Solon did in these words :

Many a wicked man is rich,
And good men there be many poor :
But we will not exchange with sich.
Nor give our goodness for their store.
For virtue ay is durable,
Whereas riches be mutable.

And Diogenes compared his peregrination and flitting from the
;ity of Corinth to Athens, and again, his removing from Thebes
to Corinth, unto the progresses and changes of abode that the
Treat king of Persia was wont to make, who in the spring season
leld his court at Susis; in winter kept house at Babylon; and
during summer passed the time and sojourned in Media. Agesi-
aus hearing upon a time the said king of Persia to be named
The great king: And why (quoth he) is he greater than myself?
inless it be that he is more just and righteous. And Aristotle,
writing unto Antipater as touching Alexander the Great, said:
Chat it became not him only to vaunt much and glorify himself
"or that his dominions were so great, but also any man else hath
10 less cause who is instructed in the true knowledge of the gods.
\nd Zeno, seeing Theophrastus in great admiration because he
lad many scholars: Indeed (quoth he) his auditory or quire is
freater than mine, but mine accordeth better and makes sweeter
larmony than his.

Whenas therefore thou hast so grounded and established in
liine heart that affection unto virtue which is able to encounter
md stand against all external things, when thou hast voided
mt of thy soul all envies, jealousies and what affections soever
ire wont either to tickle or to fret, or otherwise to depress and
:ast down the minds of many that have begun to profess
)hilosophy; this may serve for a great argument and token that
hou art well advanced forward, and hast profited much ; neither

M

354 Plutarch's Morals

is it a small sign thereof if thou perceive thy language to be
changed from that it was wont to be; for all those who are
newly entered into the school of philosophy (to speak generally)
afifect a kind of speech or style which aimeth at glory and vain
ostentation: some you shall hear crowing aloud like cocks and
mounting up aloft, by reason of their levity and haughty humour,
unto the sublimity and splendour of physical things or secrets
in nature; others take pleasure (after the manner of wanton
whelps, as Plato saith) in tugging and tearing evermore what-
soever they can catch or light upon; they love to be doing with
litigious questions, they go directly to dark problems and
sophistical subtleties, and most of them being once plunged in
the quillits and quidities of logic, make that (as it were) a means
or preparative to flesh themselves for sophistry: marry, there
be who go all about collecting and gathering together sententious
saws and histories of ancient times ; and as Anacharsis was wont
to say : That he knew no other use that the Greeks had of their
coined pieces of money but to tell and number them, or else to
cast account and reckon therewith; even so do they nothing
else but count and measure their notable sentences and sayings,
without drawing any profit or commodity out of them : and the
same befalleth unto them which one of Plato's familiars applied
unto his scholars by way of allusion to a speech of Antiphanes:
this Antiphanes was wont to say in merriment: That there was
a city in the world, whereas the words, so soon as ever they were
out of the mouth and pronounced, became frozen in the air by
reason of the coldness of the place, and so when the heat of
summer came to thaw and melt the same, the inhabitants might
hear the talk which had been uttered and delivered in winter;
even so (quoth he) it is with many of those who come to hear
Plato when they be young; for whatsoever he speaketh and
readeth unto them, it is very long ere they understand the same,
and hardly when they are become old men : and even after the
same sort it fareth with them abovesaid, who stand thus affected
universally unto philosophy, until their judgment being well
settled and grown to sound resolution, begin to apprehend those
things which may deeply imprint in the mind a moral affection
and passion of love, yea, and to search and trace those speeches
whereof the tracks (as ^Esop was wont to say) lead rather in
than out. For like as Sophocles said merrily upon a time, by
way of derision: That he would first cut off the haughty and
stately invention of ^schylus, and then abridge his affected,
curious, and artificial disposition, and in the third place change

Of Proceeding in Virtue 355

the manner and form of his elocution, which is most excellent^
and fullest of sweet affections; even so, the students in philo-
sophy, when they shall perceive that they pass from orations
exquisitely penned and framed for ostentation in frequent and
solemn assemblies, unto moral speeches, and those that touch
the quick, as well the mild and gentle motions as the hot and
violent passions of the mind, then begin they indeed to lay
down all pride and vanity, and profit truly in the school of
philosophy.

Consider, then, not only in reading the works of philosophers,
or in hearing their lectures, first and foremost, whether thou art
not more attentive to the words than to the matter; or whether
thou be not carried with a great affection to those who deliver a
nore subtle and curious composition of sentences, than such as
:omprise profitable, commodious, substantial and fleshy matters
'if I may so say), but also in perusing poems, or taking in hand
iny history, observe well and take heed that there escape thee
lot any one good sentence tending properly to the reformation
Df manners or the alleviation of passions : for like as (according
:o Simonides) the bee settleth upon flowers for to suck out of
t the yellow honey, whereas others love only their colour or
pleasant scent, and neither care nor seek for anything else
;hereout; even so, when other men be conversant in poems for
jleasure only and pastime, thou finding and gathering somewhat
)ut thereof worth the noting, shalt seem at the first sight to
lave some knowledge already thereof by a certain custom and
icquaintance with it, and a love taken unto it as a good thing
md familiar unto thee. As for those that read the books of
i'lato and Xenophon, in no other regard but for the beauty of
;heir gallant style, seeking for nought else but for the purity
)f speech and the very natural Attic language, as if they went
.0 gather the thin dew or tender moss or down of herbs : What
vill you say of such? but that they love physic drugs, which
lave either a lovely colour or a pleasant smell only; but other-
vise the medicinable virtues thereof and properties either to
)urge the body or mitigate any pain, they neither desire to
mow nor are willing to use.

Moreover, such as are proceeded farther and profited more
lave the skill and knowledge how to reap fruit not only out of
vords spoken or books written, but also to receive profit out of
ill sights, spectacles, and what things soever they see, gathering
rom thence whatsoever is fit and commodious for their purpose;
is it is reported of ^schylus and other such as he : For ^Eschylus,

356

Plutarch's Morals

being upon a time at the Isthmian games, beheld the fight of
the sword-fencers that fought at sharp, and when one of the said
champions had received a grievous wound, whereupon the whole
theatre set up a cry, he jogging one that was by him (named
Ion of Chios), See you not (quoth he) what use and exercise is
able to do? the party himself that is hurt saith never a word,
but the lookers-on cry out. Brasides chanced among dry figs
to light upon a silly mouse that bit him by the finger, and when
he had shaken her off and let her go, said thus to himself: See
how there is nothing so little and so feeble but it is able to make
shift and save its life, if it dare only defend itself. Diogenes,
when he saw one make means to drink out of the ball of his
hand, cast away the dish or cup that he carried in his budget.
Lo, how attentive taking heed and continual exercise maketh
men ready and apt to mark, observe and learn from all things
that make any way for their good. And this they may the
rather do when they join words and deeds together, not only
in that sort (as Thucydides speaketh of) by meditating and
exercising themselves with the experience of present perils, but
also against pleasures, quarrels, and altercations in judgments
about defences of causes and magistracies; as making proof
thereby of the opinions that they hold, or rather by carriage of
themselves, teaching others what opinions they are to hold.
For such as yet be learners, and notwithstanding that, inter-
meddle in affairs like pragmatical persons, spying how they may
catch anything out of philosophy, and go therewith incon-
tinently in manner of jugglers with their box, either into the
common place and market or into the school which young men
frequent, or else to princes' tables, there to set them abroad;
we are not to think them philosophers, no more than those to
be physicians who only sell medicinable spices, drugs or com-
pound confections ; or to speak more properly, such a sophister
or counterfeit philosopher as this resembleth the bird that Homer
describeth, which forsooth, so soon as he hath gotten anything,
carrieth it to his scholars (as the said bird doth in her mouth
convey meat to her naked young ones that cannot fly):

And so himself he doth beguile,

And thereby take much harm the while,

converting and distributing naught of all that which he hath
gotten to his own nourishment, nor so much as concocting and
digesting the same: and therefore we ought of necessity to
regard and consider well whether we use any discourse and place

Of Proceeding in Virtue 357

our words so, that for ourselves they may do good; and in
regard of others make no shew of vainglory nor ambitious desire
to be known abroad, but only of an intention rather to hear, or
else to teach.

But principally we are to observe whether our wrangling
humour and desire to be cavilling about questions disputable
be allayed in us or no, as also whether we have yet given over
to devise reasons and arguments to assail others; like as
champions armed with hurlbats of tough leather about their
arms, and balls in their hands, to annoy their concurrents, taking
more pleasure and delight to fell and astonish with one rap our
adversary, and so to lay him along on the earth, than to learn
or teach him : for surely modesty, mildness, and courtesy in this
kind will do well; and when a man is not willing to enter into
any conference or disputation, with a purpose to put down and
vanquish another, nor to break out into fits of choler, nor having
evicted his adversary, to be ready as they say to tread and
trample him under foot, nor to seem displeased and discontent if
himself have the foil and be put to the worst, be all good signs
of one that hath sufficiently profited. And this shewed Aris-
tippus very well upon a time when he was so hardly pressed
and overlaid in a certain disputation, that he knew not what
answer to make presently unto his adversary, a jolly bold and
audacious sophister, but otherwise a brainsick fool and without
all judgment : for Aristippus seeing him to vaunt himself, puffed
up with vainglory, that he had put him to a non plus : Well
(quoth he), I see that for this time I go away with the worse,
but surely when I am gone I will sleep more soundly and quietly
than you that have gotten the better.

Moreover, we may also prove and sound ourselves, whether
we have profited or no, even whiles we speak in public place;
namely, if neither upon the sight of a greater audience than we
looked for we shrink not for fear and false heart, nor contrari-
wise be discouraged to see fewer come to hear our exercises than
we hoped for; nor yet when we are to make a speech to the
people, or before a great magistrate, we lose the opportunity
thereoif, for that we have not well premeditated thereof before,
nor come provided of apt words to declare our mind, a thing
that by report befell unto Demosthenes and Alcibiades: for
Alcibiades, as he was passing ingenious and inventive of matter,
so he wanted audacity, and was not so ready as some other
to utter the same, but troubled eftsoons in his pleading and
delivery of it, insomuch as many times in the very midst of his

358 Plutarch's Morals

oration he would be out and to seek for a proper and fit term
to express the conception of his mind, or else to recover that
word again which was sHpt and escaped out of his memory.
As for Homer, he had such an opinion of his own perfection and
his poetical vein in the rest of all his work, that he stuck not to
set down the very first verse of his poem defective in measure,
and not answerable to the rules of versifying. So much the
rather, therefore, likely it is that they who set nothing before
their eyes, nor aim at ought else but virtue only and honesty,
will make use of the present occasion and the occurrence of
affairs, fall out as they will, without regard of applause, hissing
or any other noise whatsoever in token of liking or disliking
their speech.

Now every man ought to consider not only his own speeches,
but also his actions, namely, whether they carry with them more
profit and sound truth than vain pomp and ostentation; for if
the true love indeed of young folk, man or woman, requireth no
witnesses, but resteth in the private contentment and enjoying
of their sweet delights, although the same were performed and
their desires fully accomplished secretly between them without
the privity of any person : how much more credible is it that he
who is enamoured of honesty and wisdom, using the company
and fellowship familiarly of virtue by his actions, and enjoying
the same, shall find in himself without saying one word an
exceeding great contentment, and demand no other hearers
or beholders but his own conscience ? For like as he was but a
vain fool who called unto his maid in the house and cried with
a loud voice : Dionysia, come and see I am not proud and vain-
glorious now as I was wont to be; even so he that hath done
some virtuous and commendable act, and then goes forth to tell
it abroad and spread the fruit thereof in every place, certain it is
that such an one regards still outward vanities, and is carried
with a covetous desire of vainglory, neither hath he ever had
as yet a true sight indeed and perfect vision of virtue, but only a
fantastical dream of her, imagining as he lies asleep that he
seeth some wandering shadow and image thereof, and then after-
ward representeth thus unto his view that which he hath done,
as a painted table to look upon.

Well, then, it is the property of him that proceedeth in virtue,
not only when he hath bestowed something upon his friend, or
done a good turn unto one of his familiars, for to make no
words thereof; but also, when he hath given his voice justly,
or delivered his opinion truly, among many others that are

Of Proceeding in Virtue 359

unjust and untrue ; or when he hath flatly denied the unhonest
request, or stoutly crossed a bad motion of some rich man, great
lord or mighty magistrate; or refused gifts and bribes; or pro-
ceeded so far that being athirst in the night he hath not drunk
at all; or hath refused to kiss a beautiful boy or fair maiden and
turned away from them coming toward him as Agesilaus did,
to keep all this to himself and say nothing: For such a one as is
content to be proved and tried by his own self, not setting light
by that trial and judgment, but joying and taking delight in his
conscience, as being a sufficient witness and beholder, both of
good things and commendable actions, sheweth that reason
hath turned in, to lodge and keep resistance with him, that it
hath taken deep root there : and as Democritus saith : That he
is well framed, and by custom brought to rejoice and take
pleasure in himself. And like as husbandmen are more glad
and willing to see the ears of corn hang down their heads, and
bend toward the earth, than those who for their lightness stand
straight, upright and staring aloft, for that they suppose such
ears are empty, or have little or nothing in them, for all their
fair shew; even so, among young men, students in philosophy,
they that have least in them of any weight, and be most void,
be those that are at the very first most confident; set the
greatest countenance; carry the biggest port in their gait, and
have the boldest face, shewing therein how full they are of pride
in themselves, contempt of all others, and sparing of none : but
afterwards, as they begin to grow on and burnish, furnishing
ind filling themselves with the fruits indeed of reason and
learning, then and never before they lay away these proud
'ooks ; then down goes this vain pride and outward ostentation.
.\nd like as we see in vessels, whereinto men use to pour in
iquor, according to the quantity and measure of the said liquor
:hat goeth in, the air which was there before flieth out; even
>o to the proportion of those good things which are certain and
:rue indeed, wherewith men are replenished, their vanity giveth
)lace, all their hypocrisy vanisheth away, their swelling and
}uffing pride doth abate and fall, and giving over then to stand
ipon their goodly long beards and side robes, they transfer the
ixercise of outward things into the mind and soul within, using
;he sharp bit of bitter reprehension principally against them-
;elves. And as for others, they can find in their hearts to devise,
;onfer, and talk with them more graciously and with greater
;ourtesy; the manner of philosophy, and reputation of philoso-
)hers, they do not usurp nor take upon them, neither do they

360 Plutarch's Morals

use it as their addition in former time ; and if haply one of them
by some other be called by that name, he will not answer to it;
but if he be a young gentleman indeed, after a smiling and
pleasant manner, yea, and blushing withal for shame, he will
say thus out of the poet Homer:

I am no god nor heavenly wight :
Why dost thou give to me their right ?

For true it is as iEschylus saith :

A damsel young if she have known
And tasted man once carnally.
Her eye doth it bewray anon,
It sparkles fire suspiciously.

But a young man having truly tasted the profit and proceeding
in philosophy, hath these signs following him, which the poetess
Sappho setteth down in these verses:

When I you see, what do I ail?
First suddenly my voice doth fail.
And then like fire a colour red.
Under my skin doth run and spread.

It would do you good to view his settled and staid countenance*
to behold the pleasant and sweet regard of his eye, and to hear
him when he speaketh : for like as those who are professed in any
confraternity of holy mysteries, at their first assembly and
meeting together, hurry in tumultuous sort with great noise,
insomuch as they thrust and throng one another ; but when they
come to celebrate the divine service thereto belonging, and that
the sacred relics and ornaments are once shewed, they are very
attentive with reverent fear and devout silence; so, at the
beginning of the study of philosophy, and in the very entry (as
it were) of the gate that leadeth unto it, a man shall see' much
ado, a foul stir, great audaciousness, insolency, and jangling
words more than enough; for that some there be who would
intrude themselves rudely, and thrust into the place violently,
for the greedy desire they have to win reputation and credit:
but he that is once within and seeth the great light, as if the
sanctuaries and sacred cabinets or tabernacles were set open,
anon he putteth on another habit, and a divers countenance
with silence and astonishment, he becometh humble, pliable and
modest, ready to follow the discourse of reason and doctrine,
no less than the direction of some god. To such as these,
methinks, I may do very well to accommodate that speech
which Menedemus sometime in mirth spake pleasantly: Many
there be that sail to Athens (quoth he) for to go to school there,

Of Proceeding in Virtue 361

who when they come first thither seem sophi^ that is, be wise,
and afterwards prove philosophi,^ that is, lovers of wisdom;
then of philosophers they become sophisters,^ that is, professors
and readers, until in process of time they grow to be idiots,^ that
is to say, ignorant and fools to see to : for the nearer that they
approach to the use of reason and to learning indeed, the more
do they abridge the opinion that they have of themselves, and
lay down their presumption.

Among those that have need of physic, some that are troubled
with the toothache, or have a felon or whitflaw on their finger,
go themselves to the physician for to have remedy; others who
are sick of an ague send for the physician home to their houses,
and desire to be eased and cured by him; but those that are
fallen either into a fit of melancholy, or phrensy, or otherwise
be distracted in their brains and out of their right wits, other-
whiles will not admit or receive the physicians, although they
came of themselves uncalled, but either drive them out of doors,
Dr else hide themselves out of their sight, and so far gone they
be and dangerously sick, that they feel not their own sickness;
icmblably of those who sin and do amiss, such be incorrigible
ind uncurable, who are grievously offended and angry, yea, and
n mortal hatred with those who seem to admonish and reprove
Jiem for their misbehaviour; but such as will abide them, and
ire content to receive and entertain them, be in better state and
n a readier way to recover their health: marry, he that yieldeth
limself to such as rebuke him, confessing unto them his errors,
iiscovering of his own accord his poverty and nakedness, un-
villing that anything as touching his state should be hidden,
lot loving to be unknown and secret, but acknowledging and
Lvowing all that he is charged with, yea, and who prayeth a
nan to check, to reprove, to touch him to the quick, and so-
■raveth for help; certainly herein he sheweth no small sign of
,ood progress and amendment: according to that which Dio-
;enes was wont to say: He that would be saved, (that is to say)
»ecome an honest man, had need to seek either a good friend or a
harp and bitter enemy, to the end that either by gentle reproof
nd admonition, or else by a rigorous cure of correction, he may
le delivered from his vices.

But how much soever a man in a glorious bravery sheweth ta

hose that be abroad either a foul and threadbare coat or a

tained garment, or a rent shoe, or in a kind of a presumptuous

'. umility mocketh himself in that peradventure he is of a very

^ Sex^oL ^ ^i\6(To<pOL. * So0t<rTai. * 'ISiwrat.

362 Plutarch's Morals

low stature, crooked or hunch-backed, and thinketh herein that
he doth a worthy and doughty deed; but in the meanwhile
covereth and hideth the ordures and filthiness of his vile life,
cloaketh the villanous enormities of his manners, his envy,
maliciousness, avarice, sensual voluptuousness, as if they were
beastly botches or ugly ulcers, suffering nobody to touch them,
nay, nor so much as to see them, and all for fear of reproof
and rebuke, certes, such a one hath profited but a little, or to
speak more truly, never a whit at all; but he that is ready to
encounter and set upon these vices, and either is willing and able
(which is the chief and principal) to chastise and condemn, yea,
and put himself to sorrow for his faults; or if not so, yet in
the second place at the least can endure patiently, that another
man by his reprehensions and remonstrances should cleanse and
purge him; certes, evident it is that such an one hateth and
detesteth wickedness indeed, and is in the right way to shake it
off : and verily, we ought to avoid the very name and appearance
only thereof, and to be ashamed for to be thought and reputed
wicked; but he that grieveth more at the substance of vice
itself than the infamy that cometh thereof, will never be afraid,
but can very well abide both to speak hardly of himself and to hear
ill by others, so he may be the better thereby. To this purpose
may very well be applied a pretty speech of Diogenes unto a
certain yonker, who perceiving that Diogenes had an eye on him
within a tavern or tippling-house, withdrew himself quickly
more inward, for to be out of his sight : Never do so (quoth he),
for the farther thou fiiest backward the more shalt thou be still
in the tavern ; even so a man may say of those that be given to
vice, for the more that any one of them seemeth to deny his
fault, the farther is he engaged and the deeper sunk in sin;
like as poor men, the greater shew that they make of riches, the
poorer they be, by reason of their vanity and bragging of that
which they have not. But he that profiteth indeed hath for a
good precedent and example to follow that famous physician
Hippocrates, who both openly confessed and also put down in
writing, that he was ignorant in the anatomy of a man's head,
and namely, as touching the seams or sutures thereof; and this
account will he make, that it were an unworthy indignity if
(when such a man as Hippocrates thought not much to publish
his own error and ignorance, for fear that others might fall into
the like) he who is willing to save himself from perdition, cannot
endure to be reproved, nor acknowledge his own ignorance and
folly. As for those rules and precepts which are delivered by

Of Proceeding in Virtue 363

Pyrrho and Bion in this case are not in my conceit the signs of
amendment and progress so much as of some other more perfect
and absolute habit rather of the mind; for Bion willed and
required his scholars and familiars that conversed with him, to
think then (and never before) that they had proceeded and
profited in philosophy, when they could with as good a will
abide to hear men revile and rail at them, as if they spake unto
them in this manner:

Good sir, you seem no person lewd,

Nor foolish sot, iwis:
All hail, fair chieve you and adieu,

God send you always bliss

And Pyrrho (as it is reported), being upon a time at sea and in
danger to be cast away in a tempest, shewed unto the rest of
his fellow-passengers a porket feeding hard upon barley cast
before him on shipboard : Lo, my masters (quoth he), we ought
by reason and exercise in philosophy to frame ourselves to this
pass, and to attain unto such an impassibility as to be moved
and troubled with the accidents of fortune no more than this pig.
But consider, furthermore, what was the conceit and opinion of
Zeno in this point; for he was of mind that every man might
and ought to know whether he profited or no in the school of
virtue, even by his very dreams ; namely, if he took no pleasure
to see in his sleep any filthy or dishonest thing, nor delighted
to imagine that he either intended, did or approved any lewd,
unjust or outrageous action; but rather did behold (as in a
settled calm, without wind, weather and wave, in the clear
bottom of the water) both the imaginative and also the passive
faculty of the soul, wholly overspread and lightened with the
bright beams of reason: which Plato before him (as it should
seem) knowing well enough, hath prefigured and represented
unto us what fantastical motions they be that proceed in sleep
from the imaginative and sensual part of the soul given by
nature to tyrannise and overrule the guidance of reason;
namely, if a man dream that he seeketh to have carnal company
with his own mother, or that he hath a great mind and appetite
to eat all strange, unlawful, and forbidden meats ; as if then the
said tyrant gave himself wholly to all those sensualities and
concupiscences as being let loose at such a time, which by day
the law either by fear or shame doth repress and keep down.
Like as therefore beasts which serve for draught or saddle, if
they be well taught and trained, albeit their governors and rulers
let the reins loose and give them the head, fling not out nor go

3^4

Plutarch's Morals

aside from the right way, but either draw or make pace forward
still, and as they were wont ordinarily keep the same train and
hold on in one course and order, even so they whose sensual
part of the soul is made trainable and obedient, tame and well
schooled by the discipline of reason, will neither in dreams nor
sicknesses easily suffer the lusts and concupiscences of the flesh
to rage or break out unto any enormities punishable by law;
but will observe and keep still in memory that good discipline
and custom which doth ingenerate a certain power and efficacy
unto diligence, whereby they shall and will take heed unto
themselves : for if the mind hath been used by exercise to resist
passions and temptations, to hold the body and all the members
thereof as it were with bit and bridle under subjection, in such
sort that it hath at command the eyes not to shed tears for pity;
the heart likewise not to leap and pant in fear; the natural parts
not to rise nor stir, but to be still and quiet without any trouble
at all, upon the sight of any fair and beautiful person, man or
woman; how can it otherwise be but that there should be more
likelihood that exercise having seized upon the sensual part of
the soul and tamed it, should polish, lay even, reform, and bring
unto good order all the imaginations and motions thereof, even
as far as to the very dreams and fantasies in sleep: as it is
reported of Stilpo the philosopher, who dreamed that he saw
Neptune expostulating with him in anger, because he had not
killed a beef to sacrifice unto him as the manner was of other
priests to do, and that himself, nothing astonied or dismayed
at the said vision, should answer thus again : What is that thou
sayst, 0 Neptune ? comest thou to complain indeed like a child
(who pules and cries for not having a piece big enough) that I
take not up some money at interest, and put myself in debt, to
fill the whole city with the scent and savour of roast and burnt,
but have sacrificed unto thee such as I had at home according
to my ability and in a mean? Whereupon Neptune (as he
thought) should merrily smile and reach forth unto him his
right hand, promising that for his sake and for the love of him
he would that year send the Megarians great store of rain and
good foison of sea-loaches or fishes called aphycB by that means
coming unto them by whole sculls. Such, then, as while they
lie asleep have no illusions arising in their brains to trouble
them, but those dreams or visions only as be joyous, pleasant,
plain, and evident, not painful nor terrible, nothing rough,
malign, tortuous and crooked, may boldly say that these
fantasies and apparitions be no other than the reflexions and

Of Proceeding in Virtue 365

rays of that light which rebound from the good proceedings in
philosophy; whereas contrariwise the furious pricks of lust,
timorous frights, unmanly and base flights, childish and exces-
sive joys, dolorous sorrows and doleful moans, by reason of some
piteous illusions, strange and absurd visions appearing in
dreams, may be well compared unto_ the broken waves and
billows of the sea beating upon the rocks and craggy banks of
the shore; for that the soul having not as yet that settled per-
fection in itself which should keep it in good order, but holdeth
on a course still according to good laws only and sage opinions,
from which when it is farthest sequestered and most remote,
to wit, in sleep, it sufiereth itself to return again to the old wont
and to be let loose and abandoned to her passions: But whether
these things may be ascribed unto that profit and amendment
whereof we treat, or rather to some other habitude, having now
gathered more strength and firm constancy not subject by
means of reasons and good instruction to shaking, I leave that
to your own consideration and mine together.

But now forasmuch as this total impassibility (if I may so
speak) of the mind, to wit, a state so perfect that it is void of all
affections, is a great and divine thing; and seeing that this
profit and proceeding whereof we write consisteth in a kind of
remission and mildness of the said passions, we ought both to
consider each of them apart and also compare them one with
another, thereby to examine and judge the difference: confer
we shall every passion by itself, by observing whether our lusts
and desires be more calm and less violent than in former time,
by marking likewise our fits of fear and anger, whether they be
now abated in comparison of those before, or whether when they
be up and inflamed, we can quickly with the help of reason
remove or quench that which was wont to set them on work or
afire : compare we shall them together, in case we examine our-
selves whether we have now a greater portion of grace and
shame in us than of fear; whether we find in ourselves emulation
and not envy; whether we covet honour rather than worldly
goods ; and in one word, whether after the manner of musicians
we offend rather in the extremity and excess of harmony called
Dorian, which is grave, solemn, and devout, than the Lydian,
which is light and galliard-like, that is to say, inclining rather
in the whole manner of our life to hardness and severity than
to effeminate softness ; whether in the enterprise of any actions
we shew timidity and slackness, rather than temerity and rash-
ness, and last of all, whether we offend rather in admiring too

366 Plutarch's Morals

highly the sayings of men and the persons themselves, than in
despising and debasing them too low: for like as we say in
physic it is a good sign of health when diseases are not diverted
and translated into the noble members and principal parts of
the body; even so it seemeth that when the vices of such as are
in the way of reformation and amendment of life change into
passions that are more mild and moderate, it is a good beginning
of ridding them away clean by little and little.

The Lacedaemonian Ephori, which were the high controllers
of that whole state, demanded of the musician Phrynis, when
he had set up two strings more to his seven-stringed instrument,
whether he would have them to cut in sunder the trebles or the
bases, the highest or the lowest? But as for us, we had need
to have our affections cut both above and beneath, if we desire
to reduce our actions to a mean and mediocrity. And surely
this progress or proceeding of ours to perfection, professeth
rather to let down the lightest first, to cut off the extremity of
passions in excess, and to abate the acrimony of affections before
we do anything else, in which, as saith Sophocles:

Folk foolish and incontinent,
Most furious be and violent.

As for this one point, namely, that we ought to transfer our
judgment to action, and not to suffer our words to remain bare
and naked words still in the air, but reduce them to effect, we
have already said, that is the chief property belonging to our
progress and going forward: now the principal arguments and
signs thereof be these; if we have a zeal and fervent affection
to imitate those things which we praise; if we be forward and
ready to execute that which we so much admire, and contrari-
wise will not admit nor abide to hear of such things as we in our
opinion dispraise and condemn.

Probable it is and standeth with great likelihood that the
Athenians all in general praised and highly esteemed the valour
and prowess of Miltiades; but when Themistocles said that
the victory and trophy of Miltiades would not give him leave to
sleep, but awakened him in the night, plain it is and evident
that he not only praised and admired, but had a desire also to
imitate him, and do as much himself; semblably, we are to
make this reckoning, that our progress and proceeding in virtue
is but small when it reacheth no farther than to praise only and
have in admiration that which good men have worthily done,
without any motion and inclination of our will to imitate the

Of Proceeding in Virtue 367

same and effect the like. For neither is the carnal love of the
body effectual, unless some little jealousy be mixed withal, nor
the praise of virtue fervent and active which doth not touch the
quick, and prick the heart with an ardent zeal instead of envy,
unto good and commendable things, and the same desirous to
perform and accomplish the same fully. For it is not sufficient
that the heart should be turned upside down only, as Alcibiades
was wont to say, by the words and precepts of the philosopher
reading out of his chair, even until the tears gush out of the
eyes: but he that truly doth profit and go forward, ought by
comparing himself with the works and actions of good men,
and those that be perfectly virtuous, to feel withal in his own
heart, as well a displeasure with himself and a grief in conscience
for that wherein he is short and defective, as also a joy and
contentment in his spirit upon a hope and desire to be equal
unto them, as being full of an affection and motion that never
resteth and lieth still, but resembleth for all the world (according
to the similitude of Simonides):

The sucking foal that keeps just pace,
And runs with d£un in every place,

affecting and desiring nothing more than to be wholly united
and concorporate with a good man by imitation. For surely
this is the passion peculiar and proper unto him that truly
taketh profit by the study of philosophy; To love and cherish
tenderly the disposition and conditions of him whose deeds he
doth imitate and desire to express, with a certain goodwill to
render always in words due honour unto them for their virtue,
and to assay how to fashion and conform himself like unto
them. But in whomsoever there is instilled or infused (I wot
not what) contentious humour, envy, and contestation against
such as be his betters, let him know that all this proceedeth
from an heart exulcerated with jealousy for some authority,
might and reputation, and not upon any love, honour, or admira-
tion of their virtues.

Now, whenas we begin to love good men in such sort that
(as Plato saith) we esteem not only the man himself happy who
is temperate; or those blessed who be the ordinary hearers of
such excellent discourses which daily come out of his mouth;
but also that we do affect and admire his countenance, his
port, his gait, the cast and regard of his eye, his smile and
manner of laughter, insomuch as we are willing, as one would say,
to be joined, soldered, and glued unto him; then we may be

368 Plutarch's Morals

assured certainly that we profit in virtue; yea, and so much
the rather, if we have in admiration good and virtuous men, not
only in their prosperity, but also (like as amorous folk are well
enough pleased with the lisping or stammering tongue; yea,
and do like the pale colour of these whom for the flower of their
youth and beauty they love and think it beseemeth them, as we
read of Lady Panthea, who by her tears and sad silence, all
heavy, afflicted and blubbered as she was, for the dolour and
sorrow that she took for the death of her husband, seized
Araspes so as he was enamoured upon her) in their adversity, so
as we neither start back for fear, nor dread the banishment of
Aristides, the imprisonment of Anaxagoras, the poverty of
Socrates, or the condemnation of Phocion, but repute their
virtue desirable, lovely and amiable, even with all these
calamities, and run directly toward her for to kiss and embrace
her by our imitation, having always in our mouth at every one
of these cross accidents this notable speech of Euripides:

Oh, how each thing doth well become
Such generous hearts both all and some !

For we are never to fear or doubt that any good or honest thing
shall ever be able to avert from virtue this heavenly inspiration
and divine instinct of affection, which not only is not grieved
and troubled at those things which seem unto men most full
of misery and calamity, but also admireth and desireth to imitate
them. Hereupon also it foUoweth by good consequence, that
they who have once received so deep an impression in their
hearts, take this course with themselves : That when they begin
any enterprise, or enter into the administration of government,
or when any sinister accident is presented unto them, they set
before their eyes the examples of those who either presently are
or heretofore have been worthy persons, discoursing in this
manner: What is it that Plato would have done in this case?
what would have Epaminondas said to this? how would
Lycurgus or Agesilaus have behaved themselves herein ? After
this sort (I say) will they labour to frame, compose, reform, and
adorn their manners as it were before a mirror or looking-glass,
to wit, in correcting any unseemly speech that they have let
fall, or repressing any passion that hath risen in them. They
that have learned the names of the demigods called Idsei
Dactyli, know how to use them as counter-charms or preserva-
tives against sudden frights, pronouncing the same one after
another readily and ceremoniously; but the remembrance and

Of Proceeding in Virtue 369

thinking upon great and worthy men represented suddenly unto
those who are in the way of perfection, and taking hold of them
in all passions and perplexions which shall encounter them,
holdeth them up, and keepeth them upright, that they cannot
fall; and therefore this also may go for one argument and token
oi proceeding in virtue.

Over and besides, not to be so much troubled with any
occurrent, nor to blush exceedingly for shame as beforetime, nor
to seek to hide or otherwise to alter our countenance or anything
else about us, upon the sudden coming in place of a great or sage
personage unexpected, but to persist resolute, to go directly
toward him with bare and open face, are tokens that a man
feeleth his conscience settled and assured. Thus Alexander the
Great, seeing a messenger running toward him apace with a
pleasant and smiling countenance, and stretching forth his
hand afar off to him: How now, good fellow (quoth he), what
good news canst thou bring me more, unless it be tidings that
Homer is risen again? esteeming in truth that his worthy acts
and noble deeds already achieved wanted nothing else, nor could
be made greater than they were, but only by being consecrated
unto immortality by the writings of some noble spirit; even sO'
a young man that groweth better and better every day, and
hath reformed his manners, loving nothing more than to make
himself known what he is unto men of worth and honour; ta
shew unto them his whole house and the order thereof, his table,,
his wife and children, his studies and intents ; to acquaint them
with his sayings and writings; insomuch as otherwhiles he is
grieved in his heart to think and remember, either that his
father natural that begat him, or his master that taught him^
are departed out of this life, for that they be not alive to see in
what good estate he is in and to joy thereat; neither would he
wish or pray to the gods for anything so much as that they
might revive and come again above ground, for to be spectators
and eye-witnesses of his life and all his actions.

Contrariwise, those that have neglected themselves and not
endeavoured to do well, but are corrupt in their manners,
cannot without fear and trembling abide to see those that belong
anto them, no, nor so much as to dream of them. Add more-
Dver, if you please, unto that which hath been already said^
Jius much also for a good token of progress in virtue: When
I man thinketh no sin or trespass small, but is very careful and
A^ary to avoid and shun them all. For like as they who despair
;ver to be rich make no account at all of saving a little expense ;

370 Plutarch's Morals

for thus they think: That the sparing of a small matter can
add no great thing unto their stock, to heap it up; but con-
trariwise, hope when a man sees that he wanteth but a little of
the mark which he shooteth at, causeth that the nearer he
Cometh thereto, his covetousness is the more; even so it is in
those matters that pertain to virtue: he who giveth not place
much, nor proceedeth to these speeches: Well, and what shall
we have after this ? Be it so now: It will be better again for it
another time : and such-like : but always taketh heed to himself
in everything; and whensoever vice insinuating itself into the
least sin and fault that is, seemeth to pretend and suggest some
colourable excuses for to crave pardon, is much discontented
and displeased; he (I say) giveth hereby good evidence and
proof that he hath a house within clean and neat, and that he
would not endure the least impurity and ordure in the world
to defile the same : For (as ^schylus saith) an opinion conceived
once, that nothing that we have is great and to be esteemed
and reckoned of, causeth us to be careless and negligent in small
matters. They that make a palisado, a rampier or rough mud
wall, care not much to put into their work any wood that cometh
next hand, neither is it greatly material to take thereto any
rubbish or stone that they can meet with, or first cometh into
their eye, yea, and if it were a pillar fallen from a monument
or sepulchre ; semblably do wicked and lewd folk, who gather,
thrumble, and heap up together all sorts of gain, all actions
that be in their way, it makes no matter what; but such as
profit in virtue, who are already planted, and whose golden
foundation of a good life is laid (as it were) for some sacred
temple or royal palace, will not take hand over head any stufE
to build thereupon, neither will they work by aim, but every-
thing, shall be couched, laid, and ranged by line and level, that is
to say, by the square and rule of reason : which is the cause (as
we think) that Polycletus, the famous imager, was wont to say:
That the hardest piece of all the work remained then to do,
when the clay and the nail met together; signifying thus much:
that the chief point of cunning and perfection was in the upshoot
and end of all.

OF SUPERSTITION

I THE SUMMARY

^T should seem that Plutarch composed this book in mockery and
derision of the Jews, whom he toucheth and girdeth at in one place,
and whose religion he mingleth with the superstition of the pagans;
to as much purpose (I wis) as that which he delivereth in a discourse
at the table, where he compareth the feast of the Tabernacles,
ordained by the eternal and almighty God, with the Bacchanals
and such stinking ordures of idolaters ; thinking verily that Bacchus
was the god of the Jews. This slander of his and false calumniation
ought to be imputed unto that ignorance of the true God, wherein
Plutarch did remain en-wnrapped : yet is not he the man alone who
hath derided and flouted the religion of the Jews; but such scoffs
and derisions of the sages and wise men of this world, especially and
above all when they are addressed against God, fall upon the head
of the authors and devisers thereof, to their utter confusion. More-
over, as touching this point, that some have thought this present
discourse, wherein he endeavoureth and laboureth to prove super-
stition to be more perilous than atheism, is dangerous to be read,
and containeth false doctrine; for that superstition of the twain is
not so bad : I say that in regard of the foolish devotion of Plutarch
and such as himself, which in no wise deserveth the name of religion,
but is indeed a derision and profanation of true piety and godliness,
it were not amiss to affirm that superstition is more wretched and
miserable than atheism, considering that less hurtful and dangerous
it is for a man not to have his mind and soul troubled at all and
disquieted with a fantastical illusion of idols and chimeras in the
air, than to fear, honour and serve them in such sort as justice and
humanity should in manner be abolished by such superstitious
idolators. To be short, that it were better to defeat and overthrow
at once all false gods than to lodge any one in his head, for to languish
thereby in perpetual misery. Concerning true religion and the
extremities thereof, the case is otherwise, and the question dis-
putable, which we leave to divines and theologians to scan upon,
to discourse and determine, since our intention and purpose urgeth
us not at this time to discourse hereupon.

But to return unto our author, considering that which we come
to touch; atheists cannot find how to prevail and maintain their
opinion: for sufficient process and accusation against themselves
they Ccirry every minute of an hour in their cauterised and seared
conscience; but he sheweth that to worship and serve many idols
is a thing without comparison more deplorable than to disavow
and disclaim them all. But to prove this, after he had discovered
the course of superstition and atheism, and declared the difference

371

372 Plutarch's Morals

of these two extremities, he saith, in the first place, that superstition
is the most unworthy and unseemly of all the passions of the soul,
proving the same by divers reasons, to wit; That the superstitious
man is in continual perplexity, he dreadeth his own idol no less
than a cruel tyrant, and imagineth a thousand evils even after his
death. After this he taketh a view of the atheist, and opposeth
him against the superstitious, resolving upon this point; that the
superstitious person is more miserable of the twain, as well in
adversity as prosperity, and to confirm and satisfy his assertion, he
setteth down many arguments and notable examples. Moreover,
he sheweth that the superstitious person is an enemy to all Deity or
Godhead, he putteth clean out of his heart and treadeth under foot
all humanity and righteousness for to please his idols, and in one
word, that he is the most wretched caitiff in the world. And for a
conclusion he exhorteth us so to fly superstition, that we hold our-
selves from falling into atheism, keeping in the middle between; of
which point every good man ought to consider and think upon well
and in good earnest in these latter times of the world, albeit he who
advertiseth us thereof in this place never knew what v/as true
religion.]

The ignorance and want of true knowledge as touching the gods
divided even from the beginning into two branches, meeting on
the one side with stubborn and obstinate natures, as it were
with a churlish piece of ground, hath in them engendered
impiety and atheism; and on the other side, lighting upon
gentle and tender spirits like a moist and soft soil, hath bred and
imprinted therein superstition: now as all error in opinion and
judgment, and namely in these matters, is hurtful and dangerous
enough ; so if it be accompanied with some passion of the mind
it is most pernicious. For this we must think, that every one
of these passions resembleth a deception that is feverous and
inflamed; and like as the dislocations of any joints in a man's
body out of their place joined with a wound be worse than
others to be cured; even so the distortions and errors of the
mind meeting with some passion are more difficult to be re-
formed. As, for example, set case that one do think that the
little motes and indivisible bodies called atomi, together with
voidness and emptiness, be the first elements and principles
whereof all things are made; certainly this is an erroneous and
false opinion of his; howbeit the same breedeth no ulcer, no
fever causing disordinate pulse in the arteries, nor yet any
pricking and troublesome pain. Doth some one hold that riches
is the sovereign good of man ? This error and false opinion hath
a rust or canker and a worm that eateth into the soul and tran-
sporteth the same besides itself, it suffereth it not to take any

Of Superstition 373

repose, it stingeth, it pricketh it and setteth it a-gadding, it
throweth it down headlong (as it were) from high rocks, it stifleth
and strangleth it, and in one word, it bereaveth it of all liberty
and frank speech. Again, are there some persuaded that virtue
and vice be substances corporal and material? this haply is a
gross ignorance and a foul error, howbeit not lamentable nor
worthy to be deplored: but there be other judgments and
opinions like unto this:

O virtue, wretched and miserable.

Nought else but words and wind variable;

Thee serv'd I daily with all reverence,

As if thou hadst been some real essence:

Whereas injustice neglected I have.

Which would have made me a man rich and brave ;

Intemperance eke have I cast behind:

Of pleasures all, the mother dear and kind.

Such as these verily we ought to pity, yea, and withal to be
offended at, because in whose minds they are once entered and
settled they engender many maladies and passions like unto
worms and such filthy vermin.

But now to coQie unto those which at this present are in
question: impiety or atheism, being a false persuasion and lewd
belief that there is no sovereign nature most happy and incor-
ruptible, seemeth by incredulity of a Godhead to bring mis-
creants to a certain stupidity, bereaving them of all sense and
feeling, considering that the end of this misbelief that there is
no God, is to be void altogether of fear. As for superstition,
according as the nature of the Greek word (which signifieth
fear of the gods) doth imply, is a passionate opinion and turbulent
imagination, imprinting in the heart of man a certain fearfulness,
which doth abate his courage and humble him down to the very
ground, whiles he is persuaded that they be gods indeed, but
such as be noisome, hurtful, and doing mischief unto men : In
such sort, that the impious atheist, having no motion at all as
touching the Deity and divine power, and the superstitious
person moved and affected thereto after a perverse sort, and
otherwise than he should, are both out of the right way. For
ignorance, as it doth ingenerate in the one an unbelief of that
sovereign nature which is the cause of all goodness, so it im-
printeth in the other a misbelief of the Deity, as being the cause
of evil: so that as it should seem, impiety or atheism is a
false judgment and opinion of the Godhead ; and superstition a
passion proceeding from an erroneous persuasion. True it is
that all maladies of the soul are foul and the passions naught;

i

374 Plutarch's Morals

howbeit in some of them there is a kind of (I wot not what)
alacrity, haughtiness, and joUity, proceeding from the Hghtness
of the mind; and to say in a word, there is in manner not one
of them all destitute of one active motion or other, serving for
action; but a common imputation this is and a blame laid
generally upon all passions, that with their violent pricks (as it
were) they incite, provoke, urge, compel, and force reason;
only fear, which being no less void of audacity and boldness
than of reason, carrieth with it a certain blockishness or
stupidity, destitute of action, perplexed, idle, dead, without any
exploit or effect whatsoever; whereupon it is named in Greek
Set/Att, that is to say, a bond, and rap/Jo?, that is to say, trouble,
for that it both bindeth and also troubleth the mind. But of all
sorts of fear there is none so full of perplexity, none so unfit for
action as that of superstition. The man who saileth not is not
afraid of the sea; neither feareth he the wars who followeth not
warfare; no more than he who keepeth home and stirreth not
out of doors is afraid of thieves that rob by the highway-side;
or the poor man that hath nought to lose, of the sycophant or
promoter; nor he that liveth in mean estate,, of envy; no more
(I say) than he that is in Gaul feareth earthquake, or in
Ethiopia thunder and lightning : but the superstitious man that
stands in fear of the gods, feareth all things, the land, the sea,
the air, the sky, darkness, light, silence, and his very dreams.
Servants whiles they be asleep forget the rigour and hardness
of their masters. Sleep easeth the chains, gy\'es, and fetters
of those that lie by the heels bound in prison ; dolorous inflam-
mations, smart wounds, painful ulcers and marimuls that eat
and consume the flesh, yield some ease and alleviation unto
patients whiles they be asleep, according as he saith in the
tragedy:

O sweet repose, O sleep so gracious.
That dost allay our maladies.
How welcome art thou unto us,
Bringing in season remedies !

Thus said he: But superstition will not give a man leave thus
to say: For it alone maketh no truce during sleep; itpermitteth
not the soul at any time to breathe and take rest, no nor suffereth
it to pluck up her spirits and take heart again by removing out
of her the unpleasant, tart, and troublesome opinions as touching
the divine power; but as if the sleep of superstitious folk were
a very hell and place of damned persons, it doth present unto
them terrible visions and monstrous fancies; it raiseth devils,

Of Superstition 375

fiends, and furies, which torment the poor and miserable soul;
it driveth her out of her quiet repose by her own fearful dreams,
wherewith she whippeth, scourgeth and punisheth herself (as if
it were) by some other, whose cruel and unreasonable command-
ments she doth obey; and yet here is not all; for, that which
worse is, such superstitious persons, after they be awakened out
of their sleep and risen, do not as other men, despise their
dreams, and either laugh thereat or take pleasure therein, for
that they see there is nothing true in all their visions and
illusions which should trouble and terrify them ; but being
escaped out of the shadow of those false illusions, wherein
there is no harm or hurt at all, they deceive and trouble them-
selves in good earnest, spending their substance and goods
infinitely upon magicians, jugglers, enchanters, and such-like
deceivers whom they light upon, who bear a man in hand and
thus say unto him :

If frighted thou be with fancies in sleep,

Or haunted with Hecate that beneath doth keep,

call for an old trot that tends thy backhouse, and plunge thyself
in the sea water, and sit a whole day upon the ground,

O Greeks, you that would counted be most wise.
These barbarous and wicked toys devise ;

namely, upon a vain and foolish superstition, enjoining men to
begrime and bewray themselves with dirt, to lie and wallow in
themire,to observe sabbaths and cease from work, to lie prostrate
and grovelling upon the earth with the face downward, to sit
upon the ground in open place, and to make many strange and
extravagant adorations.

In times past the manner was, among those especially who
would entertain and observe lawful music, to command those
that began to play upon the harp or cittern, to sing thereto
with a just mouth, to the end they should speak no dishonest
thing; and even we also require and think it meet to pray unto
the gods with a just and right mouth, and not to pry in the
beast sacrificed, to look into the entrails, to observe whether the
tongue thereof be pure and right, and in the meantime perverting
and polluting our own tongues with strange and absurd names,
infecting and defiling the same with barbarous terms, offending
thereby the gods, and violating the dignity of that religion which
is received from our ancestors and authorised in our own
country. The comical poet said pleasantly in one comedy.

376

Plutarch's Morals

speaking of those who laid their bedsteads thick with gold and
silver: Why do you make your sleep dear and costly unto your-
selves, which is the only gift that the gods have given us freely?
even so may a man very well say (and with great reason) unto
those that are superstitious : Seeing that the gods have bestowed
upon us sleep, for the oblivion and repose of our miseries, why
makest thou it a very hell and place of continual and dolorous
torment to thy poor soul, which cannot fly nor have recourse
unto any other sleep but that which is troublesome unto thee?
Heraclitus was wont to say: That men all the whiles they were
awake, enjoyed the benefit of no other world, but that which
was common unto all; but when they slept, every one had a
world by himself: but surely, the superstitious person hath not
so much as any part of the common world, for neither whiles he
is awake hath he the true use of reason and wisdom, nor when
he sleepeth is he delivered from fear and secured ; but one thing
or other troubleth him still: his reason is asleep, his fear is
always awake; so that neither can he avoid his own harm quite,
nor find any means to put it by and turn it off. Polycrates the
tjo-ant was dread and terrible in Samos, Periander in Corinth,
but no man feared either the one or the other who withdrew
himself into any free city or popular state; as for him who
standeth in dread and fear of the imperial power of the gods, as
of some rigorous and inexorable tyranny, whither shall he retire
and withdraw himself? whither shall he fly? where shall he
find a land, where shall he meet with sea, without a god ? into
what secret part of the world (poor man) wilt thou betake
thyself, wherein thou mayst lie close and hidden, and be assured
that thou art without the puissance and reach of the gods ?

There is a law that provideth for miserable slaves, who being
so hardly intreated by their masters, are out of all hope that they
shall be enfranchised and made free, namely, that they may
demand to be sold again and to change their master, if haply
they may by that means come by a better and more easy servi-
tude under another: but this superstition alloweth us not that
liberty to change our gods for the better, nay, there is not a god
to be found in the world whom a superstitious person doth not
dread, considering that he feareth the tutelar gods of his native
country, and the very gods protectors of his nativity: he
quaketh even before those gods which are known to be saviours
propitious and gracious ; he trembleth for fear when he thinketh
of them at whose hands we crave riches, abundance of goods,
concord, peace, and the happy success of the best words and

Of Superstition 377

deeds that we have. Now if these think that bondage is a great
calamity, saying thus:

O heavy cross and woeful misery,
Man and woman to be in thrall-estate:
And namely, if their slavery
Be imder lords unfortimate,

how much more grievous, think you, is their servitude which
they endure who cannot fly, who cannot run away and escape,
who cannot change and turn to another. Altars there be unto
which bad servants may fly for succour; many sanctuaries there
be and privileged churches for thieves and robbers, from whence
no man is so hardy as to pluck and pull them out. Enemies,
after they are defeated and put to flight, if in the very rout and
chase they can take hold of some image of the gods, or recover
some temple and get it over their heads once, are secured and
assured of their lives ; whereas the superstitious person is most
affrighted, scared and put in fear by that wherein all others who
be afraid of extremest evils that can happen to man repose their
hope and trust. Never go about to pull perforce a superstitious
man out of sacred temples, for in them he is most afflicted and
tormented.

What needs many words? In all men death is the end of
life; but it is not so in superstition, for it extendeth and
reacheth farther than the limits and utmost bounds thereof,
making fear longer than this life, and adjoining unto death an
imagination of immortal miseries; and even then, when there
seemeth to be an end and cessation of all sorrows and travails,
be superstitious men persuaded that they must enter into others
which be endless and everlasting: they dream of (I wot not
what) deep gates of a certain Pluto, or infernal god of hell, which
open for to receive them; of fiery rivers always burning; of
hollow gulfs and floods of Styx to gape for them; of ugly and
hideous darkness to overspread them, full of sundry apparitions ;
of ghastly ghosts and sorrowful spirits, representing unto them
grizzly and horrible shapes to see, and as fearful and lamentable
voices to hear: what should I speak of judges, of tormentors,
of bottomless pits and gaping caves, full of all sorts of torture
and infinite miseries. Thus unhappy and wretched superstition,
by fearing overmuch and without reason that which it imagineth
to be nought, never taketh heed how it submitteth itself to all
miseries; and for want of knowledge how to avoid this pas-
sionate trouble, occasioned by the fear of the gods, forgeth and

378 Plutarch's Morals

deviseth to itself an expectation of inevitable evils even after
death.

The impiety of an atheist hath none of all this gear; most
true it is, that his ignorance is unhappy, and that a great
calamity and misery it is unto the soul, either to see amiss or
wholly to be blinded, in so great and worthy things, as having
of many eyes the principal and clearest of all, to wit, the know-
ledge of God, extinct and put out; but surely (as I said before)
this passionate fear, this ulcer and sore of conscience, this
trouble of spirit, this servile abjection is not in his conceit; these
go always with the other, who have such a superstitious opinion
of the gods. Plato saith that music was given unto men by the
gods, as a singular means to make them more modest and
gracious, yea, and to bring them as it were into tune, and cause
them to be better conditioned, and not for delight and pleasure,
nor to tickle the ears: for falhng out as it doth many times,
that for default and want of the Muses and Graces there is
great confusion and disorder in the periods and harmonies, the
accords and consonances of the mind, which breaketh out other-
whiles outrageously by means of intemperance and negligence;
music is of that power that it setteth everything again in good
order and their due place; for according as the poet Pindarus
saith:

To whatsoever from above,
God Jupiter doth cast no love,
To that the voice melodious
Of Muses seemeth odious.

Insomuch as they fall into fits of rage therewith, and be very
fell and angry; like as it is reported of tigers, who if they hear
the sound of drums or tabours round about them, will grow
furious and stark mad, until in the end they tear themselves in
pieces : so that there cometh less harm unto them who by reason
of deafness or hard hearing have no sense at all of music, and
are nothing moved and affected therewith : a great infortunity
this was of blind Tiresias, that he could not see his children
and friends, but much more unfortunate and unhappy were
Athamas and Agave, who seeing their children, thought they
saw lions and stags. And no doubt when Hercules fell to be
enraged and mad, better it had been and more expedient for
him, that he had not seen nor known his own children than so
to deal with those who were most dear unto him, and whom he
loved more than all the world besides, as if they had been his
mortal enemies.

Of Superstition 379

Think you not, then, that there is the same difference between
the passions of atheists and superstitious folk ? Atheists have no
sight nor knowledge of the gods at all; and the superstitious
think there are gods, though they be persuaded of them amiss;
atheists neglect them altogether as if they were not; but the
superstitious esteem that to be terrible which is gracious and
amiable; cruel and t5a-ant-like which is kind and father-like;
hurtful and damageable unto us which is most careful of our
good and profit; rough, rigorous, savage and fell of nature which
is void of choler and without passion. And hereupon it is that
they believe brass-founders, cutters in stone, imagers, gravers
and workers in wax, who shape and represent unto them gods
with bodies to the likeness of mortal men, for such they imagine
them to be, such they adorn, adore, and worship, whiles in the
meantime they despise philosophers and grave personages of
state and government, who do teach and shew that the majesty
of God is accompanied with bounty, magnanimity, love, and
careful regard of our good: So that as in the one sort we may
perceive a certain senseless stupidity and want of belief in those
causes from whence proceed all goodness; so in the other we
may observe a distrustful doubt and fear of those which cannot
otherwise be than profitable and gracious. In sum, impiety and
atheism is nothing else but a mere want of feeling and sense of
a deity or divine power, for default of understanding and knowing
the sovereign good ; and superstition is a heap of divers passions,
suspecting and supposing that which is good by nature to be
bad ; for superstitious persons fear the gods, and yet they have
recourse unto them ; they flatter them, and yet blaspheme and
reproach them; they pray unto them, and yet complain of them.
A. common thing this is unto all men, not to be always fortunate,
vvhereas the gods are void of sickness, not subject to old age,
leither taste they of labour or pain at any time : and as Pindarus
>aith:

Escape they do the passage of the firth

Of roaring Acheron, and live alway in mirth.

3ut the passions and affairs of men be intermeddled with divers
iccidents and adventures which run as well one way as another,
^ow consider with me first and foremost the atheist in those
hings which happen against his mind, and learn his disposition
ind affection in such occurrences: if in other respects he be a
emperate and modest man, bear he will his fortune patiently
vithout saying a word ; seek for aid he will and comfort by what
neans he can; but if he be of nature violent, and take his

380 Plutarch's Morals

misfortune impatiently, then he directeth and opposeth all his
plaints and lamentations against fortune and casualty; then he
crieth out that there is nothing in the world governed either by
justice or with providence, but that all the affairs of man run
confusedly headlong to destruction: but the fashion of the
superstitious is otherwise, for let there never so small an accident
or mishap befall unto him, he sits him down sorrowing, and
thereto he multiplieth and addeth other great and grievous
afHictions, such as hardly be removed; he imagineth sundry
frights, fears, suspicions, and troublesome terrors, giving himself
to all kind of wailing, groaning, and doleful lamentation ; for he
accuseth not any man, fortune, occasion, or his own self; but
he blameth God as the cause of all, giving out in plain terms that
from thence it is that there falleth and runneth over him such a
celestial influence of all calamity and misery, contesting in this
wise, that an unhappy or unlucky man he is not, but one hated
of the gods, worthily punished and afflicted, yea, and suffering
all deservedly by that divine power and providence : now if the
godless atheist be sick, he discourseth with himself and calleth
to mind his repletions and full feedings, his surfeiting upon
drinking wine, his disorders in diet, his immoderate travail and
pains taken, yea, and his unusual and absurd change of air, from
that which was familiar, unto that which is strange and un-
natural: moreover, if it chance that he have offended in any
matter of government touching the state, incurred disgrace and
an evil opinion of the people and country wherein he liveth, or
been falsely accused and slandered before the prince or sovereign
ruler, he goeth no farther than to himself and those about him,
imputing the cause of all thereto and to nothing else, and thus
he reasoneth:

Where have I been ? what good have I done ? and what have I not done ?
Where have I slipp'd? what duty begun is left by me undone?

whereas the superstitious person will think and say, that every
disease and infirmity of his body, all his losses, the death of his
children, his evil success and infortunity in managing civil affairs
of state, and his repulses and disgraces, are so many plagues
inflicted upon him by the ire of the gods, and the very assaults
of the divine justice; insomuch as he dare not go about to seek
for help and succour, nor avert his own calamity; he will not
presume to seek for remedy, nor oppose himself against the
invasion of adverse fortune, for fear (forsooth) lest he might seem
to fight against the gods, or to resist their power and will when

Of Superstition * 381

they punish him: thus when he Ueth sick in bed, he driveth his
physician out of the chamber, when he is come to visit him;
when he is in sorrow, he shutteth and locketh his door upon the
philosopher that cometh to comfort him and give him good
counsel : Let me alone (will he say) and give me leave to suffer
punishment as I have deserved, wicked and profane creature
that I am, accursed, hated of all the gods, demigods, and saints
in heaven. Whereas if a man (who doth not believe nor is
persuaded that there is a God) be otherwise in exceeding grief
and sorrow, it is an ordinary thing with him to wipe away the
tears as they gush out of his eyes and trickle down the cheeks,
to cause his hair to be cut, and to take away his mourning weed.
As for a superstitious person; how should one speak unto him,
or which way succour and help him ? without the doors he sits
clad in sackcloth, or else girded about his loins with patched
clothes and tattered rags ; oftentimes he will welter and wallow
in the mire, confessing and declaring (I wot not) what sins and
offences that he hath committed ; to wit, that he hath eaten or
drunk this or that which his god would not permit; that he
hath walked or gone some whither against the will and leave of
the divine power. Now, say he be of the best sort of these
superstitious people, and that he labour but of the milder
superstition; yet will he at leastwise sit within house, having
about him a number of all kinds of sacrifices and sacred asper-
sions ; ye shall have old witches come and bring all the charms,
spells and sorceries they can come by, and hang them about his
neck or other parts of his body (as it were) upon a stake, as
Bion was wont to say.

It is reported that Tyribasus, when he should have been appre-
hended by the Persians, drew his cimeter, and (as he was a
valiant man of his hands) defended himself valiantly ; but so soon
as they that came to lay hands on him cried out and protested
that they were to attach him in the king's name and by commis-
sion from his majesty, he laid down his weapon aforesaid imme-
diately, and offered both his hands to be bound and pinioned.
And is not this whereof we treat the semblable case? whereas
Dthers withstand their adversity, repel and put back their
ifflictions, and work all the means they can for to avoid, escape
md turn away that which they would not have to come upon
;hem. A superstitious person will hear no man, but speak in
;his wise to himself: Wretched man that thou art, all this thou
;ufferest at the hands of God, and this is befallen unto thee
)y his commandment, and the divine providence; all hope he

382 Plutarch's Morals

rejecteth, he doth abandon and betray himself, and look, who-
soever come to succour and help him, those he shunneth and
repelleth from him. Many crosses there be and calamities in
the world, otherwise moderate and tolerable, which superstition
maketh mischievous and incurable.

That ancient king Midas in old time being troubled and
disquieted much in his mind (as it should seem) with certain
dreams and visions, in the end fell into such a melancholy and
despair, that willingly he made himself away by drinking bull's
blood. And Aristodemus, king of Messenians, in that war which
he waged against the Lacedaemonians, when it happened that the
dogs yelled and howled like wolves, and that there grew about
the altar of his house the herb called dent de chien, or dog's
grass, whereupon the wizards and soothsayers were afraid (as of
some tokens presaging evil), conceived such an inward grief and
took so deep a thought, that he fell into desperation and killed
himself. As for Nicias, the general of the Athenian army, haply
it had been far better that by the examples of Midas and
Aristodemus he had been delivered and rid from his superstition,
than for fear of the shadow occasioned by the eclipse of the moon
to have sitten still as he did and do nothing, until the enemies
environed and enclosed him round about; and after that forty
thousand of Athenians were either put to the sword or taken
prisoners, to come alive into the hands of his enemies, and lose
his life with shame and dishonour: for in the darkness occasioned
by the opposition of the earth just in the midst, between the sun
and the moon, whereby her body was shadowed and deprived of
light, there was nothing for him to fear, and namely at such a
time when there was cause for him to have stood upon his feet
and served valiantly in the field; but the darkness of blind
superstition was dangerous, to trouble and confound the judg-
ment of a man who was possessed therewith, at the very instant
when his occasions required most the use of his wit and under-
standing:

The sea already troubled is

With billows blew within the sound,

Up to the capes and cliffs arise

Thick misty clouds which gather round

About their tops, where they do seat,

Fore-shewing shortly tempests great.

A good and skilful pilot seeing this, doth well to pray unto the
gods for to escape the imminent danger, and to invocate and
call upon those saints for help which they after call saviours : but

Of Superstition 383

all the while that he is thus at his devout prayers he holdeth the
helm hard, he letteth down the cross sail-yard:

Thus having struck the mainsail down the mast,
He 'scapes the sea, with darkness overcast.

Hesiodus giveth the husbandman a precept, before he begin to
drive the plough or sow his seed:

To Ceres chaste his vows to make,
To Jove likewise god of his land,
Forgetting not the while to take
The end of his plough-tail in hand.

And Homer bringeth in Ajax being at the point to enter into
combat with Hector, willing the Greeks to pray for him unto the
gods; but whiles they prayed he forgat not to arm himself at
all pieces. Semblably, Agamemnon after he had given com-
mandment to his soldiers who were to fight:

Each one his lance and spear to whet.
His shield likewise fitly to set,

then, and not before, prayeth unto Jupiter in this wise:

O Jupiter, vouchsafe me of thy grace.
The stately hall of Priamus to race;

for God is the hope of virtue and valour, not the pretence of

sloth and cowardice. But the Jews were so superstitious, that

on their sabbath (sitting still even whiles the enemies reared

their scaling-ladders and gained the walls of their city) they

aever stirred foot, nor rose for the matter, but remained fast

tied and enwrapped in their superstition as it were in a net.

Thus you see what superstition is in those occurrences of times

md affairs which succeed not to our mind, but contrary to our

vill (that is to say) in adversity : and as for times and occasions

)f mirth, when all things fall out to a man's desire, it is no better

.han impiety or atheism; and nothing is so joyous unto man

is the solemnity of festival holidays, great feasts and sacrifices

)efore the temples of the gods, the mystical and sacred rites

)erformed when we are purified and cleansed from our sins, the

eremonial service of the gods when we worship and adore them;

1 which all, a superstitious man is no better than the atheist:

Dr mark an atheist in all these, he will laugh at them until he

e ready to go beside himself; these toys will set him (I say) into

i fit of Sardonian laughing, when he shall see their vanities;

< nd otherwhiles he will not stick to say softly in the ear of some

i uniliar friend about him : What mad folk be these ? how

I re they out of their right wits and enraged who suppose that

3S4 Plutarch's Morals

such things as these do please the gods! Setting this aside,
there is no harm at all in him. As for the superstitious person,
willing he is, but not able, to joy and take pleasure: for his
heart is much like unto that city which Sophocles describeth in
these verses:

'Which at one time is full of incense sweet,
Resounding mirth with loud triumphant song,
And yet the same doth shew in every street
All signs of grief, with plaints and groans among,

he looketh with a pale face, under his chaplet of flowers upon
his head; he sacrificeth, and yet quaketh for fear; he maketh
his prayers with a trembling voice ; he putteth incense into the
fire, and his hand shaketh withal; to be short, he maketh the
speech or sentence of Pythagoras to be vain and foolish, who
was wont to say: That we are then in best case when we
approach unto the gods and worship them. For verily even
then it is when superstitious people are most wretched and
miserable, to wit, when they enter into the temples and sanc-
tuaries of the gods, as if they went into the dens of bears, holes
of serpents and dragons, or caves of whales and such monsters of
the sea. I marvel much, therefore, at them who call the mis-
creance and sin of atheists impiety, and give not that name rather
to superstition. And yet Anaxagoras was accused of impiety;
for that he held and said that the sun was a stone : whereas never
man yet called the Cimmerians impious or godless because they
suppose and believe there is no sun at all.

What say you then? Shall he who thinketh that there be
no gods at all be taken for a profane person and excommunicate ?
and shall not he who believeth them to be such as superstitious
folk imagine them, be thought infected with more impious and
wicked opinions? For mine own part, I would be better pleased
and content if men should say of me thus : There neither is nor
■ever was in the world a man named Plutarch, than to give out
of me and say: Plutarch is an unconstant man, variable,
choleric, full of revenge for the least occasion that is, or dis-
pleased and given to grieve for a small matter; who, if when you
invite others to supper, he be left out and not bidden, or if upon
some business you be let and hindered, so that you come not
to his door for to visit him, or otherwise do not salute and
speak unto him friendly, will be ready to eat your heart with
salt, to set upon you with his fangs, and bite you, will not stick
to catch up one of your little babes and worry him, or will keep
some mischievous wild beast of purpose to put into your corn-

Of Superstition 3S5

fields, your vineyard or orchards, for to devour and spoil all
your fruits. When Timotheus the musician one day in an open
theatre at Athens chanted the praises of Diana, giving unto her
in his song the attributes of Thyas, Phoebas, Msenas and Lyssas,
that is to say, furious, possessed, enraged, and stark mad, as
poets are wont to do, Cinesias, another minstrel or musician,
rose up from out of the whole audience, and said thus aloud unto
him: Would God thou haddest a daughter of those qualities.
And yet these superstitious folk think the same of Diana, yea,
and worse too: neither have they a better opinion of Apollo,
Jxmo and Venus ; for all of them they fear and tremble at. And
yet what blasphemy uttered Niobe against Latona, like unto that
which superstition hath persuaded foolish people to believe of
that goddess? to wit, that she being displeased with the re-
proachful words that Niobe gave her, killed with her arrows all
the children of that silly woman:

Even daughters six, and sons as many just,
Of ripe years all, no help, but die they must:

so insatiable was she of the calamities of another, so implacable
was her anger. For grant it were so, that this goddess was full
of gall and choler; say, that she took an hatred to lewd and
wicked persons, or grieved and could not endure to hear herself
reproached, or to laugh at human folly and ignorance; certes,
she should have been offended and angry, yea, and discharged
her arrows upon these who untruly impute and ascribe unto
her that bitterness and exceeding cruelty, and stick not both
to deliver in words and also to set down in writing, such things
of her. We charge Hecuba with beastly and barbarous im-
manity for saying thus in the last book of Homer's Iliad :

O that I could his liver get
Amid his corpse, to bite and eat.

As for the Syrian goddess, superstitious folk are persuaded that
if any one do eat enchoises or such little fish as aphyce, she will
likewise gnaw their legs, fill their bodies with ulcers, and putrefy
jr rot their liver.

To conclude, therefore, is it impiously done to blaspheme the
jods and speak badly of them ; and is it not as impious to think
ind imagine the same, considering that it is the opinion and
:onceit of the blasphemer and foul-mouthed profane person
vhich maketh his speech to be reputed naught and wicked.-*
i^or even we ourselves detest and abhor foul language, for
lothing so much as because it is a sign of a malicious mind, and

N

386 Plutarch's Morals

those we take for to be our enemies who give out bad words of
us, in this respect that we suppose them to be faithless and not
to be trusted, but rather ill affected unto us, and thinking badly
of us. Thus you see what judgment superstitious folk have of
the gods, when they imagine them to be dull and blockish,
treacherous and disloyal, variable and fickle-minded, full of
revenge, cruel, melancholic and apt to fret at every little matter:
whereupon it must needs follow, that the superstitious man doth
both hate and also dread the gods ; for how can it otherwise be,
considering that he is persuaded that all the greatest calamities
which either he hath endured in times past, or is like to suffer
hereafter, proceed from them; now whosoever hateth and
feareth the gods, he is no doubt their enemy; neither is it to be
wondered at for all this, that although he stand in dread of them,
yet he adoreth and worshippeth them, he prayeth and sacrificeth
unto them, frequenteth duly and devoutly their temples, and is
not willingly out of them; for do we not see it ordinarily that
reverence is done unto tyrants, that men make court unto them,
and cry: God save your grace; yea, and erect golden statues to
the honour of them: howbeit as great devotion and divine
honour as they do unto them in outward appearance, they hate
and abhor them secretly to the heart. Hermolaus courted
Alexander, and was serviceable about him: Pausanias was one
of the squires of the body to King Philip, and so was Chsereas to
Caligula the emperor; but there was not of these but even when
he served them said thus in his heart:

Certes, in case it did now lie in me,

Of thee (thou tyrant) revenged would I be.

Thus you see the atheist thinketh there be no gods; but the
superstitious person wisheth that there were none; yet he
believeth even against his will that there be, nay, he dare not
otherwise do for fear of death. Now if he could (Hke as Tantalus
desired to go from under the stone that hung over his head) be
discharged of this fear which no less doth press him down, surely
he would embrace, yea, and think the disposition and condition
of an atheist to be happy, as the state of freedom and liberty:
but now the atheist hath no spark at all of superstition, whereas
the superstitious person is in will and affection a mere atheist,
howbeit weaker than to believe and shew in opinion that of the
gods which he would and is in his mind. Moreover, the atheist
in no wise giveth any cause or ministereth occasion that super-
stition should arise; but superstition not only was the first

Of Superstition 387

beginning of impiety and atheism, but also when it is sprung up
and grown, doth patronise and excuse it, although not truly and
honestly, yet not without some colourable pretence: for the
sages and wise men in times past grew not into this opinion, that
the world was wholly void of a divine power and deity, because
they beheld and considered anything to be found fault withal
in the heaven, some negligence and disorder to be marked, some
confusion to be observed in the stars in the times and seasons
of the year, in the revolutions thereof, in the course and motions
of the sun round about the earth, which is the cause of night
and day, or in the nouriture and food of beasts or in the yearly
generation and increase of the fruits upon the earth; but the
ridiculous works and deeds of superstition, their passions worthy
to be mocked and laughed at, their words, their motions and
gestures, their charms, sorceries, enchantments and magical
Ulusions, their runnings up and down, their beating of drums
and tabours, their impure purifications, their filthy castimonies
and beastly sanctifi cations, their barbarous and unlawful correc-
tions and chastisements, their inhuman and shameful indignities,
practised even in temples; these things (I say) gave occasion
first unto some for to say that better it were there had been no
gods at all than to admit such for gods who received and approved
these abuses, yea, and took pleasure therein, or that they should
be so outrageous, proud and injurious, so base and pinching, so
easy to fall into choler upon a small cause, and so hard to be
pleased again. Had it not been far better for those Gauls,
Scythians, or Tartarians in old time to have had no thought, no
imagination, no mention at all delivered unto them in histories
of gods, than to think there were gods delighting in the blood-
shed of men, and to believe that the most holy and accomplished
sacrifice and service of the gods was to cut men's throats and to
spill their blood: and had it not been more expedient for the
Carthaginians by having at the first for their law-givers either
Critias or Diagoras to have been persuaded that there was neither
God in heaven nor devil in hell, than to sacrifice so as they did
to Saturn, who not (as Empedocles said) reproving and taxing
those that killed living creatures in sacrifice:

The sire lifts up his dear beloved son.

Who first some other form and shape did take:

He doth him slay, and sacrifice anon,

And therewith vows and foolish prayers doth make ;

but witting and knowing killed their own children indeed for
sacrifice; and look, who had no issue of their own^ would buy

388 Plutarch's Morals

poor men's children, as if they were lambs, young calves, or
kids, for the said purpose. At which sacrifice the mother that
bare them in her womb would stand by without any shew at all
of being moved, without weeping or sighing for pity and com-
passion; for otherwise, if she either fetched a sigh or shed a
tear, she must lose the price of her child, and yet notwithstanding
suffer it to be slain and sacrificed. Moreover, before and all
about the image or idol to which the sacrifice was made, the place
resounded and rung again with the noise of flutes and hautboys,
with the sound also of drums and timbrels, to the end that the
pitiful cry of the poor infants should not be heard. Now if any
Tryphones or other such-like giants, having chased and driven
out the gods, should usurp the empire of the world and rule over
us, what other sacrifices would they delight in, or what offerings
else and service besides could they require at men's hands?
Amestries, the wife of the great monarch Xerxes, buried quick
in the ground twelve persons, and offered them for the pro-
longing of her own life unto Pluto ; which god (as Plato said)
was named Pluto, Dis and Hades, for that being full of humanity
unto mankind, wise and rich besides, he was able to entertain the
souls of men with persuasive speeches and reasonable remon-
strances.

Xenophanes the naturalist, seeing the Egyptians at their
solemn feasts knocking their breasts and lamenting piteously,
admonished them very fitly in this wise: My good friends, if
these (quoth he) be gods whom you honour thus, lament not for
them; and if they be men, sacrifice not unto them. But there
is nothing in the world so full of errors, no malady of the mind
so passionate and mingled with more contrary and repugnant
opinions, as this of superstition; in regard whereof, we ought
to shun and avoid the same, but not as many who whiles they
seek to eschew the assaults of thieves by the highway-side, or
the invasion of wild beasts out of the forest, or the danger of
fire, are so transported and carried away with fear that they
look not about them, nor see what they do or whither they go,
and by that means light upon byways, or rather places having
no way at all, but instead thereof bottomless pits and gulfs, or
else steep downfalls most perilous; even so, there be divers that
seeking to avoid superstition, fall headlong upon the cragged
rock of perverse and stiff-necked impiety and atheism, leaping
over true religion which is seated just in the midst between both.

OF EXILE OR BANISHMP""

THE SUMMARY

[There is not a man, how well soever framed to the world and
settled therein, who can promise unto himself any peaceable and
assured state throughout the course of his whole life ; but accord-
ing as it seemeth good to the eternal and wise providence of the
Almighty (which govemeth all things) to chastise our faults, or to
try our constancy in faith; he ought in time of a calm to prepare
himself for a tempest, and not to attend the midst of a danger before
he provide for his safety, but betimes and long before to fortify and
furnish himself with that whereof he may have need another day
in all occurrences and accidents whatsoever. Our author, therefore,
in this treatise writing to comfort and encourage one of his friends,
cast down with anguish occasioned by his banishment, sheweth
throughout all his discourse that virtue it is which maketh us happy
in every place, and that there is nothing but vice that can hurt and
endamage us. Now as touching his particularising of this point, in
the first place he treateth what kind of friends we have need of in
our affliction, and how we ought then to serve our turns with them:
and in regard of exile more particularly, he adjoineth this advertise-
ment, above all other things to see unto those goods which we may
enjoy during the same, and to oppose them against the present
grief and sorrow. Afterwards he proveth by sundry and divers
reasons, that banishment is not in itself simply naught; he dis-
covereth and layeth open the folly and misery of those who are too
much addicted unto one country, shewing by notable examples that
a wise man may live at ease and contentment in all places ; that the
habitation in a strange region, and the same limited and confined
straitly within certain precincts, doth much more good ordinarily
than harm; that a large country lying out fax every way maketh
a man never a whit the more happy: whereas contrariwise, to be
enclosed and pent up bringeth many commodities with it, declaring
that this is the only life; and that it is no life at all to be evermore
flitting to and fro from place to place. Now when he hath beautified
this theme abovesaid with many fair similitudes and proper induc-
tions, he comforteth those who are debarred and excluded from any
city or province; refuting with very good and sound arguments
certain persons who held banishment for a note of infamy ; shewing
withal, that it is nothing else but sin and vice which bringeth a man
into a lamentable state and condition : concluding by the examples
of Anaxagoras and Socrates, that neither imprisonment, nor death,
can enthral or make miserable the man who loveth virtue. And
contrariwise, he giveth us to understand by the examples of Phaethon
ind Icarus, that vicious and sinful persons fall daily and continually
■me way or other into most grievous calamities through their own
audaciousness and folly.]

389

390 Plutarch's Morals

Semblable is the case of wise sentences and of good friends;
the best and most assured be those reputed which are present
with us in our calamities, not in vain and for a shew, but to aid
and succour us : for many there be who will not stick to present
themselves, yea, 'and be ready to confer and talk with their
friends in time of adversity; howbeit, to no good purpose at all,
but rather with some danger to themselves, like as unskilful
divers, when they go about to help those that are at point to
be drowned, being clasped about the body, sink together with
them for company. Now the speeches and discourses which
come from friends and such as would seem to be helpers ought
to tend unto the consolation of the party afflicted, and not to
the defence and justification of the thing that afflicteth: for
little need have we of such persons as should weep and lament
with us in our tribulations and distresses, as the manner is of
the chori or quires in tragedies, but those rather who will speak
their minds frankly unto us, and make remonstrance plainly:
That for a man to be sad and sorrowful, to afflict and cast down
himself, is not only every way bootless and unprofitable, but
also most vain and foolish: but where the adverse occurrents
themselves being well handled and managed by reason, when
they are discovered what they be, give a man occasion to say
thus unto himself:

Thou hast no cause thus to complain,
Unless thou be dispos'd to fain.

A mere ridiculous folly it were to ask either of body and
flesh what it aileth, or of soul what it suffereth, and whether by
the occurrence of this accident it fare worse than before; but
to have recourse unto strangers without, to teach us what our
grief is, by wailing, sorrowing, and grieving together with us:
and therefore, when we are apart and alone by ourselves, we
ought each one to examine our own heart and soul about all
and every mishap and infortunity, yea, and to peise and weigh
them, as if they were so many burdens, for the body is pressed
down only by the weight of the fardel that loadeth it; but the
soul oftentimes of itself giveth a surcharge over and above the
things that molest it. A stone of the own nature is hard, and
ice of itself cold ; neither is there anything without that giveth
casually to the one the hardness to resist, or to the other the
coldness to congeal; but banishments, disgraces, repulse, and
loss of dignity, as also contrariwise, crowns, honours, sovereign
magistracies, pre-eminences, and highest places, being powerful

Of Exile or Banishment 391

either to afflict or rejoice hearts, in some measure more or less,
not by their own nature, but according to judgment and opinion,
every man maketh to himself light or heavy, easy to be borne
or contrariwise intolerable: whereupon we may hear Polynices
answering thus to the demand made unto him by his mother:

How then ? is it a great calamity.
To quit the place of our nativity?
Polynices. The greatest cross of all it is doubtless,

And more indeed than my tongue can express;

but contrariwise, you shall hear Alcman in another song,
according to a little epigram written of him by a certain poet:

At Sardis, where mine ancestors sometime abode did make.
If I were bred and nourished, my surname I should take
Of some Celmus or Bacelat, in robes of gold array'd.
And jewels fine, while I upon the pleasant tabour play'd.
But now Alcman I cleped am, and of that Sparta great
A citizen, and poet: for in Greekish muse my vein
Exalts me more than Dascyles or Gyges, tyrants twain:

for it is the opinion, and nothing else, that causeth one and the
same thing to be unto some good and commodious, as current
and approved money, but to others unprofitable and hurtful.

But set case that exile be a grievous calamity, as many men
do both say and sing; even so, among those meats which we eat
there be many things bitter, sharp, hot and biting in taste,
howbeit, by mingling therewith somewhat which is sweet and
pleasant, we take away that which disagreeth with nature; like
as there be colours also offensive to the sight, in such sort as that
the eyes be much dazzled and troubled therewith, by reason of
their unpleasant hue or excessive and intolerable brightness.
If then, for to remedy that inconvenience by such offensive and
resplendent colours, we have devised means either to intermingle
shadows withal, or turn away our eyes from them unto some
green and delectable objects; the semblable may we do in those
sinister and cross accidents of fortune; namely, by mixing
among them those good and desirable blessings which a man
presently doth enjoy, to wit, wealth and abundance of goods,
a number of friends, and the want of nothing necessary to this
life : for I do not think that among the Sardinians there be many
who would not be very well content with those goods and that
estate which you have even in exile, and chuse rather with your
condition of life otherwise, to live from home and in a strange
country, than (like snails, evermore sticking fast to their shells)
be without all good things else, and enjoy only that which they
lave at home in peace, without trouble and molestation. Like

392 Plutarch *s Morals

as therefore in a certain comedy there was one who exhorted
his friend, being fallen into some adversity, to take a good heart,
and fight against fortune; who when he demanded of him again
how he should combat with her, made answer: Marry, after a
philosophical manner; even so let us also maintain battle, and
be revenged of adversity, by following the rule of philosophy,
and being armed with patience as becometh wise men. For
after what sort do we defend ourselves against rain? or how
be we revenged of the north wind? marry, we seek for fire,
we go into a stouph, we make provision of clothes, and we get
an house over our heads ; neither do we sit us down in the rain
until we be thoroughly wet to the skin, and then weep our fill;
and even so, have you also in those things which are presently
about you good means, yea, and better than any other, to revive,
refresh, and warm this part of your life which seemeth to be
frozen and benumbed with cold, as having no need at all of any
other helps and succours, so long as you will use the foresaid
means, according as reason doth prescribe and direct. For
true it is, that the ventoses or cupping-glasses that physicians
use, drawing out of man's body the worst and most corrupt
blood, do disburden and preserve all the rest. But they that
are given to heaviness and sorrow, who love also evermore to
whine and complain, by gathering together and multiplying
continually in their cogitations the worst matters incident unto
them, and eftsoons consuming themselves with the dolorous
accidents of their fortune, cause those means to be unprofitable
unto them which otherwise are wholesome and expedient, and
even at such a time especially when they should do most good.
As for those two tuns, my good friend, which Homer saith to
be set in heaven full of men's destinies, the one replenished with
good and the other with bad, it is not Jupiter who sitteth to
dispense and distribute them abroad, sending unto some mild
and pleasant fortunes intermingled always with goodness, but
unto others continual streams (as a man would say) of mere
misfortunes without any temperature of any goodness at all:
but even among our own selves as many as be wise and are of
any sound understanding, draw out of their happy fortunes
whatsoever cross and adverse matter is mingled therewith, and
by this means make their life the pleasanter ; and as a man would
say more potable; whereas contrariwise, many men do let
their fortunes run (as it were) through a colander or strainer,
wherein the worst stick and remain in the way behind, whiles the
better do pass and run out; and therefore it behoveth that

Of Exile or Banishment 393

although we be fallen into anything that is in truth naught and
grievous unto us, we set a cheerful countenance on the matter,
and make the best supply and recompense that we can by those
good things that otherwise we have and do remain with us
besides, lenifying and polishing the strange and adverse accident
which happeneth without by that which is mild and familiar
within.

But as touching those occurrents that simply of their own
nature be not ill, and wherein whatsoever doth trouble and
offend us ariseth altogether and wholly upon a vain conceit and
foolish imagination of our own; we ought to do as our manner
is with little children that be afraid of masks and disguised
visors; for like as we hold the same close and near unto them,
handle and turn them in our hands before them every way,
and so by that means acquaint them therewith, until they make
no reckoning at all of them; even so by approaching near, by
touching and perusing the said calamities with our understanding
and discourse of reason, we are to consider and discover the false
appearance, the vanity and feigned tragedy that they pretend;
like to which is that present accident which now is befallen
unto you, to wit, the banishment out of that place which,
according to the vulgar error of men, you suppose to be your
native country. For to say a truth, there is no such distinct
native soil that nature hath ordained, no more than either house,
land, smith's forge or chirurgeon's shop is by nature, as Ariston
was wont to say; but every one of these and such-like, according
as any man doth occupy or use them, are his, or to speak more
properly, are named and called his : for man, according to the
saying of Plato, is not an earthly plant, having the root fixed
fast within the ground and unmovable, but celestial and
turning upward to heaven, whose body from the head as from
a root that doth strengthen the same abideth straight and
upright. And hereupon it is that Hercules in a certain tragedy
said thus:

What, tell you me of Argive or Thebain,
I do not vaunt of any place certain.
No borough town, nor city, comes amiss
Throughout all Greece, but it my coimtry is.

And yet Socrates said better than so; who gave it out that he
was neither Athenian nor Grecian, but a citizen of the world;
as if a man should say for example sake, that he were either a
Rhodian or a Corinthian; for he would not include himself

394 Plutarch's Morals

within the precincts and limits of the promontories Sunium or
Tasnarus, nor yet the Ceraunian mountains:

But seest thou this starry firmament,
So high above and infinitely vast,
In bosom moist of water element.
The earth beneath how it encloseth fast.

These are the bounds of a native country within the pourprise
and compass whereof whosoever is, ought not to think himself
either banished, pilgrim, stranger or foreigner; namely, whereas
he shall meet with the same fire, the same water, the same air,
the same magistrates, the same governors and presidents; to
wit, the sun, the moon and the morning star; the same laws
throughout, under one and the selfsame order and conduct; the
solstice and tropic of summer in the north; the solstice and
tropic of winter in the south; the equinoxes both of spring and
fall, the stars Pleiades and Arcturus; the seasons of seedness,
the times of planting; one king, and the same prince of all,
even God, who hath in his hand the beginning, the midst, and
the end of the whole and universal world; who by his influence
goeth according to nature, directly through and round about all
things, attended upon with righteousness and justice, to take
vengeance and punishment of those who transgress any point
of divine law: which all we likewise that are men do exercise
and use by the guidance and direction of nature against all
others, as our citizens and subjects.

Now say that thou dost not dwell and live in Sardis, what
matter is that? surely it is just nothing: No more do all the
Athenians inhabit in the boroughs or tribe Colyttus; nor the
Corinthians in the street Cranium ; nor yet the Lacedaemonians
in the village Pytane: are those Athenians then to be counted
strangers, and not inhabitants of the city, who have removed out
of Melite into Diomea: considering that even there they do
solemnise yet the month of their transmigration named there-
upon Metageitnion; yea, and do celebrate a festival holiday
and sacrifice, which in memorial of that removing they call
Metageitnia, for that this passage of theirs into another neigh-
bourhood they received and entertained right willingly with
joy and much contentment? I suppose you will never say so.
Now tell me what part of this earth habitable, or rather of the
whole globe and compass thereof, can be said far distant or
remote one from the other, seeing that the mathematicians are
able to prove and make demonstration by reason that the whole,
in comparison and respect of heaven or the firmament, is no

Of Exile or Banishment 395

more than a very prick which hath no dimension at all? But
we, like unto pismires driven out of our hole, or in manner of
bees dispossessed of our hive, are cast down and discomforted
by and by, and take ourselves to be foreigners and strangers,
for that we know not how to esteem and make all things our
own, familiar and proper unto us, as they be. And yet we
laugh at the folly of him who said: That the moon at Athens
was better than at Corinth ; being in the meanwhile after a sort in
the same error of judgment, as if when we are gone a journey
from the place of our habitation, we should mistake the earth,
the sea, the air and the sky, as if they were others and far
different from those which we are accustomed unto: for nature
hath permitted us to go and walk through the world loose and
at liberty : but we for our parts imprison ourselves, and we may
thank ourselves that we are pent up in straight rooms, that we
be housed and kept within walls; thus of our own accord we
leap into close and narrow places ; and notwithstanding that we
do thus by ourselves, yet we mock the Persian kings, for that
(if it be true which is reported of them) they drink all of the
water only of the river Choaspes, by which means they make all
the continent besides waterless, for any good they have by it:
whereas, even we also, when we travel and remove into other
countries, have a longing desire after the river Cephisus or
Eurotas; yea, and a mind unto the mountain Taigetus or the
hill Parnassus; whereby upon a most vain and foolish opinion,
all the world besides is not only void of water, but also like a
desert, without city, and altogether inhabitable unto us.

Contrariwise, certain Egj^tians by occasion of some wrath and
excessive oppressing of their king, minding to remove into
Ethiopia, whenas their kinsfolk and friends requested them to
turn back again, and not to forsake their wives and children,
after a shameless manner shewing unto them their genital
members, answered them : That they would neither want wives
nor children, so long as they carried those about them. But
surely a man may avouch more honestly, and with greater
modesty and gravity, that he who in what place soever feeleth
no want or miss of those things which be necessary for this life,
cannot complain and say: That he is there out of his own
country, without city, without his own house and habitation,
or a stranger at all; so as he only have as he ought, his eye and
understanding bent hereunto, for to stay and govern him in
manner of a sure anchor, that he may be able to make benefit
and use of any haven or harbour whatsoever he arriveth nnto.

39^ Plutarch's Morals

For when a man hath lost his goods, it is not so easy a matter
to recover them soon again; but surely every city is straight-
ways as good a native country unto him, who knoweth and hath
learned how to use it; to him (I say) who hath such roots as will
live, be nourished and grow in every place and by any means,
such as Themistocles was furnished with; and such as Demetrius
the Phalerian was not without; who being banished from
Athens, became a principal person in the court of King Ptole-
maeus in Alexandria, where he not only himself lived in great
abundance of all things, but also sent unto the Athenians from
thence rich gifts and presents. As for Themistocles, living in the
estate of a prince, through the bountiful allowance and liberality
of the King of Persia, he was wont (by report) to say unto his
wife and children : We had been utterly undone for ever, if we
had not been undone. And therefore Diogenes, surnamed the
Dog, when one brought him word and said. The Sinopians have
condemned thee to be exiled out of the kingdom of Pontus : And
I (quoth he) have confined them within the country of Pontus
with this charge:

That they shall never pass the utmost bonds
Of Euxine sea that hems them with her stronds.

Stratonius being in the isle Seriphos, which was a very little
one, demanded of his host for what crimes the punishment of
exile was ordained in that country; and when he heard and
understood by him that they used to banish such as were con-
victed of falsehood and untruth: Why then (quoth he again)
hast not thou committed some false and lewd act, to the end
that thou mightest depart out of this straight place and be
enlarged? where, as one comical poet said: A man might
gather and make a vintage (as it were) of figs with slings, and
foison of all commodities might be had, which an island wanted.
For if one would weigh and consider the truth indeed, setting
aside all vain opinion and foolish conceits, he that is affected
unto one city alone is a very pilgrim and stranger in all others;
for it seemeth neither meet, honest, nor reasonable that a man
should abandon his own for to inhabit those of others. Sparta
is fallen to thy lot (saith the proverb), adorn and honour it, for
so thou art bound to do; be it that it is of small or no account;
say that it is seated in an unwholesome air, and subject to many
diseases, or be plagued with civil dissensions, or otherwise
troubled with turbulent affairs. But whosoever he be whom
fortune hath deprived of his own native country, certes she

Of Exile or Banishment 397

hath granted and allowed him to make choice of that which
may please and content him. And verily, the precept of the
Pythagoreans serveth to right good stead in this case to be
practised: Choose (say they) the best life; use and custom will
make it pleasant enough unto thee. To this purpose also it
may be wisely and with great profit said: Make choice of the
best and most pleasant city, time will cause it to be thy native
country, and such a native country as shall not distract and
trouble thee with any business, nor impose upon thee these and
such-like exactions : Make payment and contribute to this levy
of money: Go in embassage to Rome: Receive such a captain
or ruler into thine house, or take such a charge upon thee at
thine own expenses.

Now he that calleth these things to remembrance, if he have
any wit in his head, and be not over-blind every way in his own
opinion and self-conceit, will wish and choose, if he be banished
out of his own country, to inhabit the very isle Gyaros, or the
rough and barren island Cinarus, where trees or plants do
hardly grow, without complaining with grief of heart, without
lamenting and breaking out into these plaints and womanly
moans, reported by the poet Simonides in these words :

The roaring noise of purple sea,

Resounding all about,
Doth fright me much, and so enclose.

That I cannot get out;

but rather he will bear in mind and discourse with himself the
speech that Philip, King of Macedonia, sometime delivered : for
when his hap was in the wrestling place to fall backward and
lie along on the ground; after he was up again upon his feet,
and saw the whole proportion and print of his body in the dust
of the floor: 0 Hercules (quoth he), what a small deal of the
earth is our portion by the appointment of nature, and yet see
how we will not rest, but covet to conquer the whole world that
is habitable.

You have seen (I suppose) the isle Naxos ; if not, yet at least-
wise the island Thuria near by; of which twain this was in old
time the habitation of Orion; but in the other there dwelt
Ephialtes and Otus: as for Alcmseon, he made his abode and
residence upon the muddy bank, which the river Achelous had
newly gathered and cast up, after it was a little dried and
compact together, to avoid the pursuit (as the poets say) of the
Furies; but in my conceit rather, because he would decline the
offices of state, civil magistracies, seditious broils, and bitmg

398 Plutarch's Morals

calumniations sib to furies in hell, he chose such a strait and
narrow place to inhabit, where he might lead a life in quietness
and repose, secured from all such busy affairs. And Tiberius
Caesar, in his latter days, lived seven years (even until his death)
in the little island Caprea, in such wise, as the very temple
and imperial throne of the whole world retired and drawn in
(as it were) into the heart, for all that time never went out from
thence; and yet for his part, the ordinary cares incident unto
the empire, which were brought from all parts and came upon
him to amuse his head continually on every side, would not
permit him to enjoy clearly without turbulent anguish of mind
that intended rest and quietness of his in the said island. But
even that man, who may by his departure into some little island
be freed and delivered from no small troubles and calamities, is
notwithstanding miserable if he do not eftsoons say unto himself
when he is apart, yea, and chant oftentimes these verses of
Pindarus:

Love well the place where cypress trees do grow.

But thin and small. The forest great let go

Of Candle isle, about the Ida hill :

As for myself, small lands I hold and till.

By fortune given, and those without an oak;

My heart likewise no griefs nor cares do yoke.

Exempt I am from civil tumults and seditions; I am not subject
to the command of princes and governors; my hand is not in
the charge and administration of state affairs, nor in any public
ministries or services, which hardly admit excuse or refusal.
For considering that Callimachus seemeth not unwisely in one
place to say thus : Measure not wisdom by the Persian schcene :
why then should we (meting felicity with schosnes and parasangs)
complain, lament and torment ourselves, as if we were unhappy,
if our fortune be to dwell in a little isle which is not in circuit
above two hundred furlongs, and nothing near four days' sailing
about, as Sicily is? for what good can a spacious and large
region do for to procure felicity, or make a man to lead a quiet
and peaceable life ? Hear you not how Tantalus in the tragedy
crieth out, and saith thus:

The spacious land and country large,

Cali'd Berecynthian plain.
Days' journeys twelve right out, I sow

Yearly with com and grain ;

and a little after he proceedeth to this speech:

Of Exile or Banishment 399

But now, my soul, sometime an heavenly power.
Descended thence into this Ccirthly bower,
Speaks thus to me: Learn, and betimes take heed,
Love not this world too much, I do thee rede.

And Nausithous, leaving the wide and large country Hyperia,
for that the Cyclopes were so near neighbours unto it, and
departing into an island far remote from other men, where he
lived alone by himself without conversing with any people,

From other mortal men apart,
Of surging sea within the heart,

provided for his citizens and subjects a most pleasant life. As
for the islands called Cyclades, they were at first (by report)
inhabited by the children of Minos, and afterwards the offspring
of Codrus and Neleus held the same, into which foolish persons
nowadays think themselves sore punished and undone for ever if
they be confined. And yet, what island is there destined and
appointed for exiled and banished people but it is larger than
the territory Scilluntia, wherein Xenophon, after that renowned
expedition and voyage of his into Persia, passed his old age in
elegancy and much happiness? semblably, the Academy, a little
pingle or plot of ground, the purchase whereof cost not above
three thousand drachms, was the habitation of Plato, Xenocra-
tes and Polemon, wherein they kept their schools, and lived at
repose all their lifetime: and yet I must needs except one day
every year, upon which Xenocrates was wont to go down to
the city, for to see the plays and pastimes exhibited with new
tragedies at the feast called Bacchanals, only to honour (as folk
said) and countenance that solemnity with his personal presence.
Also Theocritus of Chios challenged and reproached Aristotle
many times, for that to live in the court of Philip and Alexander,

Upon the mouth of Borborus to dwell
He chose, and Academy bade farewell.

Now was this Borborus a river, so called by the Macedonians,
which ran along the city of Pella in Macedonia. As for islands.
Homer the poet doth of purpose and expressly recommend unto
us and celebrate them with heavenly and divine praises in this
wise:

At Lemnos he arrived then,

Whereas the city stood.
In which sometime that prince divine.

King Thoas made abode :
And whatsoever Lesbos isle,

The palace and the seat
Of gods above contains enclos'd
Within her pourpris great.

400 Plutarch's Morals

Also:

When won he had the stately isle.
Which Scyros sometime hight.

The native place and town of Mars,
The god of arms and fight.

Likewise:

And those came from Dulichium,
And eke the sacred isles.

Against Elis, Echinades
Within sea many miles.

Moreover, it is said that of famous and renowned men, devout
iEolus, and best beloved of the gods, dwelt in one isle; the most
prudent and wise Ulysses in another; Ajax likewise, that right
valiant and hardy warrior, and Alcinous, the most courteous
prince for hospitality and entertainment of strangers, were
islanders. Zeno the philosopher, when news was brought unto
him that the ship of his which remained alone of all the rest
was drowned in the sea with all the freight and merchandise
therein: Thou hast done well, O fortune (quoth he), to drive
us to our studying gown and philosopher's life again; even so,
in mine opinion, there is no reason that a man (unless he be
very much besotted and transported with the vain wind of
popularity), when he is confined and enclosed within an island,
should complain of fortune therefore, but rather praise her, for
that she hath rid him of much anguish of spirit and trouble of
his head, delivered him from tedious travel and wandering
pilgrimages up and down in the world from place to place; freed
him from the perils of sea, removed him from the tumultuous
stirs of the multitude in judicial courts and public assemblies
of the city; and reduced him to a settled and staid life, full of
rest and tranquillity, not distracted with any superfluous and
needless occupations, wherein he may live indeed properly to
himself, being ranged within the centre and circumference of
those things which are required only for necessity. For what
island is there which hath not housen, walking places, stouphs
and bains, or that is without fishes or hares, if a man be disposed
to pass the time in fishing or hunting; and that which is the
greatest matter of all, you may oftentimes there enjoy fully your
rest and repose, which other do so much thirst and hunger after;
for whereas when we are haply playing at dice, or otherwise
keeping close at home, there will be some of these sycophants or
busy priers and curious searchers into all our actions, ready to
draw us out of our houses of pleasure in the suburbs, or out of
our delightsome gardens, to make our apparence judicially in

Of Exile or Banishment 401

the common place, or to perform our service and give attendance
in the court: there will be none such about to sail into the
island where thou art confined for to trouble thee; none will
come to thee to demand or crave anything, to borrow money,
to request thy suretyship, or thy assistance for to second him
in the suit of any ofiice and magistracy; unless peradventure
some of thy best friends only and nearest kinsfolk, of mere love
and affectionate desire to see thee, sail over for thy sake ; for the
rest of thy life besides is permitted to be as free and safe as a
sanctuary, not subject to any spoil, trouble or molestation, if
thou be willing and can skill to use thy liberty and repose.

As for him who thinketh those to be happy who trudge up
and down in the world abroad, spending most part of their time
out of their own houses, either in common inns and hostelries,
or else in ferrying from place to place, he is much like unto him
that supposeth the wandering planets to be in a better state
than the other stars which be fixed in the firmament and remove
not; and yet there is not one of the said planets but is carried
round in a peculiar and proper sphere of their own, as it were in
a certain isle, keeping always a just order in their revolution:
for according as Heraclitus saith; The very sun himself will
never pass beyond his bounds; and if he do, the furies which
are the ministers of justice will find him out and be ready to
encounter him. But these and all such-like reasons, my good
friend, we are to allege unto them and sing in their ears, who
being sent away and confined to some one isle, cannot possibly
change for another country, nor have commerce and dealing in
any place else whatsoever, those I say.

Whom surging waves of sea both night and day
Enclose perforce, and cause them there to stay.

As for you unto whom no certain place is limited and assigned for
to inhabit, but who are debarred and excluded only out of one,
are thus to think, that the exclusion out of one city alone is
an overture and ready way made unto aU others.

Now if any man will object and say; In this case of exile and
banishment we are disabled for bearing rule and office of state^
we sit not at council table in the senate house; we are not
presidents in the public plays and solemnities, etc. You may
answer and reply again in this manner; Neither are we troubled
with factions and civil dissensions ; we are not called upon nor
charged with payments in public levies and exactions; neither
be we bound to make court unto great governors, and to give.

402 Plutarch's Morals

attendance at their gates; nor to take care and regard whether
he who is chosen to succeed us in the government of our province
be either hasty and choleric, or otherwise given to oppression
and hard deahng: but as Archilochus, making no account at all
of the fruitful corn-fields and plenteous vineyards in Thasos,
despised and contemned the whole isle because of some other
rough, hard, and uneven places in it, giving out thereof in these
terms:

This island like an ass's back doth stick,
All overspread with woods so wild and thick:

even so we, casting our eyes and fixing them upon that part
only of exile which is the worst and vilest of the rest, do con-
temn and make no reckoning of the repose from business, the
liberty also and leisure which it doth afford. And yet the kings
of Persia be reputed happy, in that they pass their winter time
in Babylon, the summer in Media, and the most sweet and
pleasant part of the spring at Susse. May not he likewise who
is departed out of his own native country during the solemnity
of the mysteries of Ceres, make his abode within the city
Eleusine; all the time of the Bacchanals, celebrate that feast
in Argos ; and when the Pythian games and plays are exhibited,
go to Delphos; as also when the Isthmian pastimes be repre-
sented, make a journey likewise to Corinth? in case he be a
man who taketh pleasure in the diversity of shews and public
spectacles, if not, then either sit still and rest, or else walk up
and down, read somewhat, or take a nap of sweet sleep without
molestation or interruption of any man; and according as
Diogenes was wont to say, Aristotle dineth when it pleaseth
King Philip; but Diogenes taketh his dinner when Diogenes
thinketh it good himself, without any business and affairs to
distract him, and no magistrate, ruler or captain there was to
interrupt his ordinary time and manner of diet. This is the
reason why very few of the wisest and most prudent men that
ever were have been buried in the countries where they were
born; but the most part of them without any constraint or
necessity to enforce them, have willingly weighed anchor, and
of their own accord sailed to another road or haven to harbour
in, and there to lead their life; for some of them have departed
to Athens, others have forsaken Athens and gone to other
places: for what man ever gave out such a commendation of
his own native country, as did Euripides in these verses, in the
person of a woman:

Of Exile or Banishment 403

Our people all at first no strangers were,

Frona foreign parts who hither did arrive ;

Time out of mind those that inhabit here

Were bom in place, and so remain'd alive.

All cities else and nations at one word

With aliens peopled be, who like to men

At table play, or else upon chess-board

Removed have, and leapt, some now, some then.

If women, we may be allow'd to grace

Our native soil, and with proud words exalt.

Presume we dare to say that in this place,

A temperate air we have without default,

Where neither heat nor cold excessive is;

If ought there be that noble Greece doth yield,

Or Asia rich, of best commodities,

And daintiest fruits, by river or by field.

We have it here, in foison plentiful

To hunt, to catch, to reap, to crop and pull.

And yet even he who hath set such goodly praises upon his
lative country, left the same, went into Macedonia, and there
ived in the court of King Archelaus. You have heard likewise
I suppose) this little epigram in verse:

Interred and entombed lieth here
Euphorion's son, the poet ^Eschylus
(In Athens town though bom sometime he were).
To Gelas near, in com so plenteous.

"or he also abandoned his own country, and went to dwell in
iicily, like as Simonides did before him. And whereas this title
)r inscription is commonly read {This is the history written by
'ierodotus the Halicarnassean), many there be who correct it
ind write in this manner, Herodotus the Thurian, for that he
emoved out of the country wherein he was bom, became an
nhabitant among the Thurians, and enjoyed the freedom of
hat colony. As for that heavenly and divine spirit in the
cnowledge of muses and poetry:

Homerus, who with wondrous pen.
Set forth the battles Phrygian,

■ /hat was it that caused so many cities to debate about the
•lace of his nativity, challenging every one unto themselves,
)Ut only this ; that he seemed not to praise and extol any one

■ ity above the rest ? Moreover, to Jupiter, sumamed Hospital,
210W we not that there be many, and those right great, honours

• lone.

Now if any one shall say unto me, that these personages were
,11 of them ambitious, aspiring to great honour and glory, do no
lore, but have recourse unto the sages, and those wise schools
,nd learned colleges of Athens; call to mind and consider the

404 Plutarch's Morals

renowned clerks and famous philosophers, either in Lycaeum
or the Academy: go to the gallery Stoa, the learned school
Palladium, or the music-school Odaeum. If you affect, love and
admire above all other the sect of the Peripatetics, Aristotle,
the prince thereof, was born in Stagira, a city of Macedonia;
TheophrastusinEressus; Strato came from Lampsacus ; Glycon
from Troas; Ariston from Chios; and Critolaus from Phaselus.
If your mind stand more to praise the Stoics, Cleanthes was
of Assos; Zeno was a Citiean; Chrysippus came from SoH;
Diogenes from Babylon; and Antipater from Tharsus; and
Archidamus, being an Athenian born, went to dwell among the
Parthians, and left behind him at Babylon in succession the
Stoic discipline and philosophy. Who was it that chased and
drave these men out of their native countries ? certes, none but
€ven of their own accord and voluntary motion they sought all
abroad for their contentment and repose, which hardly or not
at all can they enjoy at home in their own houses who are in
any authority and reputation; so that, as they have taught us
very well out of their books, other good sciences which they
professed, so this one point of living in quietness and rest they
have shewed unto us by practice and example. And even in
these days also, the most renowned and approved clerks, yea,
and greatest men of mark and name, live in strange countries,
far remote from their own habitations; not transported by
others, but of themselves removing thither; not banished, sent
away and confined, but willing to fly and avoid the troublesome
affairs, negotiations and business which their native countries
amuse them with.

That this is true, it may appear by the most approved,
excellent and commendable works and compositions which
ancient writers have left unto posterity; for the absolute
finishing whereof it seemeth that the Muses used the help and
means of their exile. Thus Thucydides the Athenian penned
the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians whiles
he was in Thracia, and namely, near unto a place called the
For estof the Fosse. Xenophon compiled his story at Scillos
in Elea; Philip wrote in Epirus; Timaeus, who was bom at
Taurominum in Sicily, became a writer in Athens; Androtion
the Athenian at Megarae, and Bachilides the poet in Pelopon-
nesus; who all and many others besides, being banished out
of their countries, were never discouraged nor cast down, but
shewed the vivacity and vigour of their good spirits, and took
their exile at fortune's hands as a good maintenance and pro-

Of Exile or Banishment 405

vision of their journey; by means whereof they live in fame
and renown now after their death: whereas on the other side,
there remaineth no memorial at all of those by whose factions
and sidings they were driven out and exiled. And therefore
he deserveth to be well mocked who thinketh that banishment
carrieth with it some note of infamy and reproach as necessarily
adherent thereto. For what say you to this ? Is Diogenes to be
counted infamous, whom when King Alexander saw sitting in
the sun, he approached near, and standing by him, demanded
whether he stood in need of anjrthing or no? he had no other
answer from him but this, that he had need of nothing else but
that he should stand a little out of the sunshine, and not shadow
him as he did; whereupon Alexander, wondering at his mag-
nanimity and haughty courage, said presently unto those friends
that were about him; If I were not Alexander I would be
Diogenes. And was Camillus disgraced any way for being
banished out of Rome, considering that even at this day he is
reputed and taken for the second founder thereof? Neither lost
Themistocles the glory which he had won among the Greeks by
his exile, but rather acquired thereto great honour and estima-
tion with the barbarians. And no man is there so base-minded
and careless of honour and credit but he would choose rather
to be Themistocles, banished as he was, than Leobates his
accuser, and the cause of his banishment; yea, and to be Cicero,
who was exiled, than Clodius, who chased him out of Rome; or
Timotheus, who was constrained to abandon and forsake his
native country, than Aristophon, who indicted him and caused
him to leave the same. But for that the authority of Euripides,
who seemeth mightily to defame and condemn banishment,
moveth many men ; let us consider what be his several questions
and answers to this point:

JocASTA. How then ! is it a great calamity

To lose the place of our nativity ?
PoLYNiCES. The greatest cross I hold it is doubtless,

And more indeed than my tongue can express.
JocASTA. The manner would I gladly understand,

And what doth grieve man shut from native land?
PoLYNiCES. This one thing first, the sorest grief must be.

That of their speech they have not liberty.
JocASTA. A spite it is, no doubt, and that of servile kind.

For men to be debarr'd to speak their mind.
PoLYNiCES. Besides, they must endure the foolishness

And ignorance of rulers more or less.

But herein I cannot allow of his sentence and opinion as well
and truly delivered. For first and foremost, not to speak what

4o6 Plutarch *s Morals

a man thinketh is not the point of a slavish and base person,
but rather he is to be counted a wise and prudent man who
can hold his tongue at those times and in such occasions as
require taciturnity and silence ; which the same poet hath taught
us in another place more wisely, when he saith:

Silence is good when that it doth avail,
Likewise to speak in time and not to fail.

And as for the folly and ignorance of great and mighty persons,
we must abide no less when we tarry at home than in exile;
nay, it falleth out many times that men at home fear much more
the calumniations and violence of those who unjustly are in
high places of authority within cities, than if they were abroad
and out of their own countries. Again, this also is most false
and absurd, that the said poet depriveth banished persons of
their liberty and frank speech. Certes, this were a wonderful
matter, that Theodorus wanted his freedom of tongue, con-
sidering that when King Lysimachus said unto him : And hath
thy country chased and cast thee out, being so great a person
among them? Yea (quoth he again), for that it was no more
able to bear me than Semele to bear Bacchus: neither was he
daunted and afraid, notwithstanding that the king shewed unto
him Telesphorus enclosed within an iron cage, whose eyes he
had caused before to be pulled out of his head, his nose and ears
to be cropt, and his tongue to be cut, adding withal these words :
See how I handle those that displease and abuse my person.
And what shall we say of Diogenes ? Wanted he (think you) his
liberty of speech ? who being come into the camp of King Philip,
at what time as he made an expedition against the Grecians,
invaded their country and was ready to give them battle, was
apprehended and brought before the king as a spy, and charged
therewith: I am indeed (quoth he) come hither to spy your
insatiable avarice, ambition and folly, who are about now to
hazard in one hour (as it were) with the cast of a die, not only
your crown and dignity, but also your life and person; sem-
blably, what think you of Annibal the Carthaginian? was he
tongue-tied before Antiochus, banished though himself were,
and the other a mighty monarch? For when he advised
Antiochus to take the opportunity presented unto him, and to
give battle unto the Romans his enemies, and the king having
sacrificed unto the gods, answered again, that the entrails of the
beast killed for sacrifice would not permit, but forbade him so
to do : Why then (quoth he by way of reproof and rebuke), you

Of Exile or Banishment 407

vill do that belike which a piece of dead flesh biddeth you, and
not that which a man of wisdom and understanding counselleth
70U unto. But neither geometricians, nor those that use
i ineary demonstrations, if haply they be banished, are deprived
of their liberty, but that they may discourse and speak frankly
(if their art and science of such things as they have learned
ii,nd known: how then should good, honest, and honourable
])ersons be debarred of that freedom, in case they be exiled?
! Jut in truth, it is cowardice and baseness of mind which always
; toppeth the voice, tieth the tongue, stifleth the wind-pipe, and
causeth men to be speechless. But proceed we to that which
joUoweth afterwards in Euripides:

JocASTA. But thus we say, those that are banished

With hopes always of better days be fed.
PoLYNiCES. Good eyes they have, afar off they do see.

Staying for things that most uncertain be.

< 'ertainly these words imply rather a blame and reprehension of
:olly than of exile. For they be not those who have learned
J Jid do know how to apply themselves unto things present, and
' 0 use their estate such as it is, but such as continually depend
upon the expectance of future fortunes, and covet evermore
•hat which is absent and wanting, who are tossed to and fro
'/ith hope as in a little punt or boat floating upon the water;
;'ea, although they were never in their lifetime without the
vails of the city wherein they were bom: moreover whereas
' /e read in the same Euripides :

JocASTA. Thy father's friends and allies, have not they

Been kind and helpful to thee, as they may ?
PoLYNicES. Look to thyself, from troubles God thee bless.

Friend's help is naught, if one be in distress.
JocASTA. Thy noble blood, from whence thou art descended:

Hath it not thee advanc'd and much amended?
PoLYNiCES. I hold it ill to be in want and need,

For parentage and birth doth not men feed.

I

' 'hese speeches of Polynices are not only untrue, but also bewray

• is unthankfulness, when he seemeth thus to blame his want of

: onour and due regard for his nobility, and to complain that he

/as destitute of friends by occasion of his exile, considering that

1 respect of his noble birth, banished though he were, yet so

ighly honoured he was that he was thought worthy to be

latched in marriage with a king's daughter, and as for friends,

Jlies and confederates, he was able to gather a puissant army

■ f them, by whose aid and power he returned into his own

4o8

Plutarch's Morals

country by force of arms, as himself testifieth a little after in
these words:

Many a lord and captain brave here stands
With me in field, both from Mycenae bright,
And cities more of Greece, whose helping hands
(Though loth) I must needs use in claim of right.

Much like also be the speeches of his mother, lamenting in this

wise:

No nuptial torch at all I lighted have
To thee, as doth a wedding feast beseem-
No marriage song was sung, nor thee to lave
Was water brought from fair Ismenus stream ;

whom it had become and behoved rather to rejoice and be glad in
heart, when she heard that her son was so highly advanced
and married into so royal an house; but in taking grief and
sorrow herself that there was no wedding torch lighted, and that
the river Ismenus afforded no water to bathe in at his wedding;
as if new-married bridegrooms could not be furnished either
with fire or water in the city Argos ; she attributeth unto exile
the inconveniences which more truly proceed from vanity and
folly.

But some man will say unto me; That to be banished is a
note of ignominy and reproach: true it is indeed, but among
fools only, who think likewise that it is a shame to be poor, to
be bald, to be small of stature, yea, and to be a stranger forsooth,
a tenant, inmate or alien inhabitant: For certes, such as will
not suffer themselves to be carried away with these vain per-
suasions, nor do subscribe thereto, esteem and have in admira-
tion good and honest persons, never respecting whether they be
poor, strangers and banished or no : Do we not see that all the
world doth honour and reverence the temple of Theseus as well
as Parthenon and Eleusinium, temples dedicated to Minerva,
Ceres and Proserpina? and yet was Theseus banished from
Athens; even that Theseus by whose means the same city was
first peopled, and is at this day inhabited; and that city lost
he which he held not from another, but founded first himself.
As for Eleusis, what beauty at all would remain in it, if we
dishonour Eumolpus and be ashamed of him who removing out
of Thracia, instituted at first among the Greeks the religion of
sacred mysteries, which continueth in force and is observed at
this day? what shall we say of Codrus, who became king of
Athens? whose son, I pray you, was he? was not Melanthius
his father a banished man from Messina? Can you chuse but

Of Exile or Banishment 409

:ommend the answer of Antisthenes to one who said unto him;
rhy mother is a Phrygian: So was (quoth he) the mother of the
jods: why answer you not Hkewise when you are reproached
A'ith your banishment? even so was the father of that victorious
conqueror Hercules: the grandsire Ukewise of Bacchus, who
3eing sent out for to seek Lady Europa, never returned back into
lis native country:

For being a Phoenician bom,
At Thebes he after did arrive,
Far from his native soil beforn.
And there begat a son belive.
Who Bacchus did engender tho'.
That moves to fury women, hight
Mad Bacchces, running to and fro.
In service, such is his delight.

A.S for that which the poet iEschylus would seem covertly by
;hese dark words to insinuate, or rather to shew afar off, when
le saith thus:

And chaste Apollo, sacred though he were.
Yet banished a time, heaven did forbear,

[ am content to pass over in silence, and will forbear to utter
iccording as Herodotus saith: and whereas Empedocles in the
/ery beginning of his philosophy maketh this preface:

An ancient law there stands in force.

Decreed by gods above,
Groimded upon necessity.

And never to remove :
That after man hath stain'd his hands

In bloodshed horrible.
And in remorse of sin is vext

With horror terrible,
The long-liv'd angels which attend

In heaven, shall chase him quite.
For many thousand years from view

Of every blessed wight:
By virtue of this law, am I

From gods exiled now.
And wander here and there throughout

The world I know not how.

This he meaneth not of himself alone, but of all us after him,
whom he declareth and sheweth by these words to be mere
strangers, passengers, foreigners and banished persons in this
(vorld. For it is not blood (quoth he), 0 men, nor vital spirit
contemperate together, that hath given unto us the substance
of our soul and beginning of our life; but hereof is the body
only composed and framed, which is earthly and mortal; but
the generation of the soul which cometh another way, and

41 o Plutarch's Morals

descendeth hither into these parts beneath, he doth mitigate and
seem to disguise by the most gentle and mild name that he could
devise, calling it a kind of pilgrimage from the natural place;
but to use the right term indeed, and to speak according to the
very truth, she doth vague and wander as banished, chased and
driven by the divine laws and statutes to and fro, until such
time as it settleth to a body, as an oyster or shellfish to one rock
or other in an island beaten and dashed upon with many winds
and waves of the sea round about (as Plato saith), for that it
doth not remember nor call to mind from what height of honour
and from how blessed an estate it is translated, not changing,
as a man would say, Sardis for Athens, nor Corinth for Lemnos
or Scyros, but her resiance in the very heaven and about the
moon, with the abode upon earth, and with a terrestrial life;
whereas it thinketh it strange and as much discontented here
for that it hath made exchange of one place for another not far
distant; much like unto a poor plant that by removing doth
degenerate and begin to wither away: and yet we see that for
certain plants some soil is more commodious and sortable than
another, wherein they will like, thrive, and prosper better:
whereas contrariwise there is no place that taketh from a man
his felicity, no more than it doth his virtue, fortitude or wisdom :
for Anaxagoras during the time that he was in prison wrote his
quadrature of the circle: and Socrates, even when he drunk
poison, discoursed as a philosopher, exhorting his friends and
familiars to the study of philosophy, and was by them reputed
happy; but contrariwise, Phaethon and Icarus, who (as the poets
do report) would needs mount up into heaven, through their
own folly and inconsiderate rashness fell into most grievous
and woeful calamities.

THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO TAKE UP
MONEY UPON USURY

THE SUMMARY

[The covetous desire of earthly goods is a passion incurable, but
especially after that it hath gotten the mastery of the soul, in such
sort as the advertisements which are made in regard of covetous
men be not proposed for anything else but for the profit and benefit
of those persons wlio are to keep themselves from the nets and
snares of these enemies of human society. Now among all those
who have need of good counsels in this behalf, we must range them
that take up money upon interest, who serving as a prey and booty
to these greedy and hungry hunters, ought so much the rather to
look unto their own preservation, if they would not be cruelly
devoured. And as this infortunity hath been in the world ever
since the entry of sin, that always some or other, yea, and great
numbers, have endeavoured to make their commodity and gain by
the loss and damage of their neighbours; so we may see here that
in Plutarch's time things were grown to a wonderful confusion, the
which is nothing diminished since, but contrariwise it seemeth that
in these our days it is come to the very height. And for to apply
some remedy hereto, our author leaveth usurers altogether as
persons graceless, reprobate, and uncapable of all remonstrance,
addressing himself unto borrowers, to the end that he might discover
and lay open unto them the snares and nets into which they plunge
themselves; and this he doth without specifying or particularising
Dver-near of usury, because there is no mean or measure limited nor
any end of this furious desire of gathering and heaping up things
corruptible. Considering then that covetous folk have neither
nerve nor vein that reacheth or tendeth to the pity of their neigh-
bours, meet it is and good reason that borrowers should have some
mercy and compassion of themselves, to weigh and ponder well the
9;rave discourses of this author, and to apply the same unto the right
ase. He saith, therefore, that the principal means to keep and save
themselves from the teeth of usury is to make the best of their own,
and shift with those things that they have about them, before they
approach unto the den of this hungry and greedy beast, and that
men ought to make an hand and quick dispatch of that which is
aot very necessary before they come thither ; where he taxeth those
who had leifer lay to gage and pawn their goods, and remain under
the burden of usury, than to sell up all and disgage themselves at
once. After this, he presenteth the true remedy of this mischief,
aamely , to spare and spend in measure ; and to cause us to be more
wary and better advised, he proposeth the lively image of this

411

412 Plutarch's Morals

horrible monster, whom we call an usurer, describing him in his
colours, with all his practices and passions. Which done, he sheweth
the source of borrowing money upon interest, and the way to stop
the same; he directeth his pen particularly first unto the poor,
giving them a goodly lesson, and then unto the richer sort, teaching
the one as well as the other how they are to demean and carry
themselves, that they be not exposed to the clutches of usurers.
And for a conclusion, he exhorteth them to behold the example of
certain philosophers by name, who chose rather to abandon and
forsake all their goods than to undo themselves in the possession
and holding thereof.]

Plato, in his books of Laws, permitteth not one neighbour to
make bold with another's water, before he have digged and sunk
a pit so deep in his own ground that he is come to a vein of clay
or potter's earth; until (I say) he have sounded thoroughly and
found that the plot of ground is not apt to engender water, or
yield a spring [for the said potter's clay being by nature fatty,
solid and strong, retaineth that moisture which it hath once
received, and will not let it soak or pass through] ; but allowed
they are, and ought to furnish themselves with water from
others, when they have no means to find any of their own,
forasmuch as the law intendeth to provide for men's necessity,
and not to favour their idleness; even so there ought to be an
ordinance and act as touching money; That it might not be
lawful for those to borrow upon usury, nor to go into other men's
purses (as it were) to draw water at their wells or pits, before
they have cast about all means at home, searched every way,
and gathered (as it were) from every gutter and spring, trying
and assaying how to draw and come by that which may serve
their own turns, and supply their present necessities. But now
it falleth out contrariwise, that many there be who to furnish
their foolish and riotous expenses, or else to accomplish their
superfluous and chargeable delights, never serve their own turns,
nor make use of those things which they have, but are ready to
seek unto others, even to their great cost, though they stand
in no need at all: for an undoubted and certain proof hereof,
mark how usurers do not ordinarily put forth their money unto
those who are in necessity and distress, but to such as be desirous
to purchase and get that which is superfluous, and whereof they
stand not in need; insomuch as that which is credited out and
delivered unto him that borroweth, is a good proof and sufficient
testimony that he hath somewhat to take to of his own; whereas
indeed he ought (since he hath wherewith) to look unto it that
he take not upon interest, and contrariwise, not to be credited

Against Usury 413

lor to be in the usurer's book, is an argument that such an one
s needy.

Why dost thou repair and make court (as it were) obsequiously
;o a banker or merchant ? go thy ways and borrow of thine own
Dank, make a friend of thine own stock ; flagons thou hast and
Dots, chargers, basons and dishes all of silver plate; employ the
^ame about thy necessities, for to supply thy wants, and when
;hou hast disfumished thy table and cupboard, the gentle town
\ulis, or else the isle Tenedos, will make up all again with fair
/essel of earth and pottery which is much more neat and pure
;han those of silver; for these carry not the strong smell nor
inpleasant scent of usury, which like rust or canker, every
iay more and more sullieth, fretteth and eateth into thy costly
nagnificence ; these will not put thee in mind daily of the
mlends and new moons, which being in itself the most sacred
md holy day of the month, is by means of the usurers become
Ddious and accursed. For as touching those who choose rather
:o lay their goods to gage, and to pawn them for to borrow
noney thereupon and pay for use, than to sell them right out, I
im verily persuaded that god Jupiter himself, surnamed Ctesius,
chat is. Possessor, cannot save them from beggary. Abashed
chey are to receive the price and value of their goods to the
ATorth; but they be not ashamed to pay interest for the loan
Df money. And yet that wise and politic Pericles caused the
:ostly robe and attire of the statue of Minerva, weighing forty
talents in line gold, to be made in such sort, that he might take
it off and put it on as he would at his pleasure; To the end
'quoth he) that when we stand in need of money for main-
tenance of war, we may serve our turns therewith for the time,
md afterwards put in the place again another of no less weight
ind worth ; even so we likewise in our occasions and affairs, like
is in the besieging of a city, ought never to admit the garrison
Df an usurer or enemy, nor to endure to see before our eyes our
Dwn goods delivered out for to continue in perpetual servitude,
Dut rather to cut off from our table all that is neither profitable
nor necessary; likewise from our beds, from our couches, and
our ordinary expenses in diet whatsoever is needless, thereby
CO maintain and keep ourselves free, in hope and with full intent
to supply and make amends again for it, if fortune afterwards
>mile upon us. Certes, the Roman dames in times past were
willing to part with their jewels and ornaments of gold, yea,
ind give them away as an offering of first-fruits to Apollo
Pythius, whereof was made a golden cup, and the same sent to

414 Plutarch's Morals

the city of Delphi. And the matrons of Carthage shore the
hair of their heads to make thereof twisted cords for to wind
up and bend their engines and instruments of artillery in the
defence of their country, when the city was besieged.

But we, as if we were ashamed of our own sufficiency and to
stand upon our own bottoms, seek to enthral ourselves by gages
and obligations; whereas it behoved us much more by restrain-
ing ourselves and reducing all to such things only as be profitable
and good for us, of those needless, unprofitable and superfluous
vessels which we have, after they be either melted, broken in
pieces, or sold, to build a privileged chapel of liberty for our-
selves, our wives and children. For the goddess Diana in
Ephesus yielded sanctuary, franchise, and safeguard unto all
debtors against their creditors who fled for succour into her
temple. But the sanctuary indeed of parsimony, frugality, and
moderate expense, into which no usurers can make entry, for
to hale and pull out of it any debtor prisoner, standeth always
open for those that are wise, and affordeth unto them a large
space of joyous and honourable repose. For like as that
prophetess which gave oracles in the temple of Pythius Apollo,
about the time of the Medians' war, made answer unto the
Athenian ambassadors: That God gave unto them for their
safety a wall of wood ; whereupon they leaving their lands and
possessions, abandoning their city, and forsaking their houses
and all the goods therein, had recourse unto their ships for to
save their Hberty; even so, God giveth unto us wooden tables,
earthen vessels, and garments of coarse cloth, if we would live
in freedom:

Set not thy mind upon steeds of great price,
And chariots brave in silver harness dight.
With clasps, with hooks, and studs by fine device
Ywrought, in race to show a goodly sight ;

for how swift soever they be, these usurers will soon overtake
them and run beyond. But rather get upon the next ass thou
meetest with, or the first pack-horse that cometh in thy way,
to fly from the usurer, a cruel enemy and mere tyrant, who
demandeth not at thy hands fire and water, as sometimes did
that barbarous king of Media; but that which worse is, toucheth
thy liberty, woundeth thine honour and credit by proscriptions,
writs, and open proclamations. If thou pay him not to his
content he is ready to trouble thee; if thou have wherewith to
satisfy him, he will not receive thy payment unless he fist; if
thou prize and sell thy goods, he will have them under their

Against Usury 415

worth; art thou not disposed to make a sale of them? he will
force thee to it; dost thou sue him for his extreme dealing, he
will seem to offer parley of agreement ; if thou swear unto him
that thou wilt make payment, he will impose upon thee hard
conditions, and have thee at command ; if thou go to his house
for to speak and confer with him, he will lock the gates against
thee; and if thou stay at home and keep house, thou shalt have
him rapping at thy door; he will not away, but take up his
lodging there with thee. For in what stead served the law
of Solon in Athens, wherein it was ordained that among the
Athenians men's bodies should not be obliged for any civil debt?
considering that they be in bondage and slavery to all bankers
and usurers who force men to keep in their heads; and that
which more is, not to them alone (for that were not such a great
matter), but even to their very slaves, being proud, insolent,
barbarous, and outrageous, such as Plato describeth the devils
and fiery executioners in hell to be who torment the souls of
wicked and godless persons. For surely these cursed usurers
make thy hall and judicial place of justice no better than a very
hell and place of torment to their poor debtors, where after the
manner of greedy geirs and hungry grisons, or they slay, mangle
and eat them to the very bones :

And of their beaks and talons keen.
The marks within their flesh be seen.

And some of them they stand continually over, not suffering
them to touch and taste their own proper goods; when they
have done their vintage and gathered in their corn and other
fruits of the earth, making them fast and pine away like unto
Tantalus. And like as King Darius sent against the city of
Athens his lieutenants-general Datis and Artaphernes, with
chains, cords, and halters in their hands, therewith to bind the
prisoners which they should take; semblably these usurers
bring into Greece with them their boxes and caskets full of
schedules, bills, handwritings and contracts obligatory, which be
as good as so many irons and fetters to hang upon their poor
debtors; and thus they go up and down, leaping from city to
city, where they sow not as they pass along good and profitable
seed, as Triptolemus did in old time; but plant their roots of
debts, which bring forth infinite troubles and intolerable usuries,
whereof there is no end, which eating as they go and spreading
their spumes round about, in the end cause whole cities to stoop
and sink, yea, and be ready to suffocate and strangle them. It

4i6

Plutarch's Morals

is reported of hares that at one time they suckle young leverets
and be ready to kinnule others that be in their bellies, and
withal to conceive afresh: but the debts of these barbarous,
wicked and cruel usurers do bring forth before they conceive.
For in putting out their money they re-demand it presently; in
laying it down they take it up, they deliver that again for
interest which they received and took in consideration of loan
and use. It is said of the Messenians' city:

Gate after gate a man shall here find.
And yet one gate there's always behind.

But it may better be said of usurers:

Usury here upon usvury doth grow,
And end thereof you never shall know.

And here withal in some sort they laugh at natural philosophers,
who hold this axiom. That of nothing can be engendered nothing:
for with them usury is bred of that which neither is, nor ever
was; of that I say which never had subsistence nor being.
Howbeit, these men think it a shame and reproach to be a
publican, and take to farm for a rent the public revenues, not-
withstanding the laws do permit and allow that calling, whereas
themselves against all the laws of the world exact a rent and
custom for that which they put forth to usury; or rather, to
speak a truth, in lending their money they defraud their debtors
as bankrupts do their creditors. For the poor debtor, who
receiveth less than he hath set down in his obligation, is most
falsely cozened, deceived and cut short of that which he ought
to have.

And verily, the Persians repute lying to be a sin, but in a
second degree: for in the first place they reckon to owe money
and be indebted; inasmuch as leasing foUoweth commonly those
that be in debt. But yet usurers lie more than they, neither
are there any that practise more falsehood and deceit in their
day debt books wherein they write, that to such a one they have
delivered so much, whereas indeed it is far less; and so the
motive of their lying is fair avarice, and neither indigence nor
poverty, but even a miserable covetousness and desire ever to
have more and more; the end whereof turneth neither to
pleasure nor profit unto themselves, but to the loss and ruin of
those whom they wring and wrong: for neither till they those
grounds which they take away from their debtors ; nor dwell in
the houses out of which they turn them; nor eat their meat
upon those tables which they have from them; nor yet clad

Against Usury 417

themselves with their apparel of which they spoil them; but
first, one is destroyed, then a second followeth after, and is
allured as a prey by the other. And this is much like to a wild
fire, which still consumeth, and yet increaseth always by the
utter decay and destruction of all that falleth into it, and
devoureth one thing after another. And the usurer which
maintaineth this fire, blowing and kindling it with the ruin of
so many people, gaineth thereby no more fruit than this, that
after a certain time he taketh his book of accounts in hand, and
there readeth what a number of debtors he hath bought out of
house and home, how many he hath dispossessed of their land
and living, from whence he hath come and whither he hath gone
in turning, winding, and heaping up his silver. Now I would
not that you should thus think of me, that I speak all this upon
any deadly war and enmity that I have sworn against usurers:

For God be praised, they neither horses mine
Have driven away, nor oxen, nor yet kine;

but only to shew unto them who are so ready to take up money
upon usury, what a villanous, shameful, and base thing there is
in it, and how this proceedeth from nothing else but extreme
folly and timidity of heart. If thou have wherewith to weld
the world, never come into the usurer's book, considering thou
hast no need to borrow. Hast thou not wherewith, yet take
not money up and pay not interest, because thou shalt have no
means to make pa)mient.

But let us consider the one and the other apart by itself. Old
Cato said unto a certain aged man, who behaved himself very
oadly: My friend (quoth he), considering that old age of itself
lath so many evils, how cometh it to pass that you add
:hereto moreover the reproach and shame of lewdness and mis-
lemeanour? even so may we say, seeing that poverty of itself
lath so many and so great miseries, do not you over and above
10 and heap thereupon the troubles and anguishes that come
)f borrowing and being in debt ; neither take thou from penury
hat only good thing wherein it excelleth riches, to wit, the
vant of carking and pensive cares; for otherwise thou shalt
)e subject unto the mockery implied by this common proverb:

A goat alone when bear unneth I may,
An ox upon my shoulder you do lay,

lemblably, you being not able to sustain poverty alone, do
urcharge yourself with an usurer, a burden hardly supportable
ven for a rich and wealthy man. How then would you have

o

4i8

Plutarch's Morals

me to live? Haply some man will say: And dost thou indeed
ask this question, having hands and feet of thine own ? having
the gift of speech, voice, and being a man, unto whom it is given
both to love and also to be loved; as well to do a pleasure as
to receive a courtesy with thanksgiving. Thou mayest teach
grammar, bring up young children, be a porter or door-keeper;
thou mayest be a sailor or mariner, thou mayest row in a barge
or galley: for none of all these trades is more reproachful, odious
or troublesome than to hear one say unto thee: Pay me mine
own, or discharge the debt that thou owest me. Rutilius, that
rich Roman, coming upon a time at Rome to Musonius the
philosopher, said unto him thus in his ear: Musonius, Jupiter
surnamed Saviour, whom you and such other philosophers as
you are, make profession to imitate and follow, taketh up no
money at interest : but Musonius, smiling again, returned him this
present answer: No more doth he put forth any money for use.
Now this Rutilius, who was an usurer, reproached the other
for taking money at interest, which was a foolish arrogant
humour of a Stoic: for what need hadst thou, Rutilius, to
meddle with Jupiter Saviour, and allege his name, considering
that a man may report the selfsame by those very things which
are familiar and apparent ? The swallows are not in the usurer's
book, the pismires pay not for use of money, and yet to them
hath not nature given either hands or reason, or any art and
mystery; whereas she hath endued man with such abundance
of understanding, and aptness to learn and practise, that he
can skill not only to nourish himself, but also to keep horses,
hounds, partridges, hares, and jays: why dost thou then
disable and condemn thyself, as if thou wert less docible and
sensible than a jay, more mute than a partridge, more idle than
a dog, in thct thou canst make no means to have good of a man,
neither by double diligence, by making court, by observance
and service, nor by maintaining his quarrel and entering into
combat in his defence ? seest thou not how the earth doth bring
forth many things, and how the sea affordeth as many for the
use of man ? And verily as Crates saith :

I saw myself how Mycilus wool did card.
And how with him his wife the rolls did spin :
Thus during war when times were extreme hard,
Both jointly wrought, to keep them from famine.

King Antigonus, when he had not of a long time seen Cleanthes
the philosopher, meeting him one day in Athens, spake unto
him and said: How now, Cleanthes, dost thou grind at the

\

Against Usury 419

nill and turn the quern-stone still? Yea, sir (quoth Cleanthes
igain), I grind yet, and I do it for to earn my living; howbeit,
:or all that, I give not over my profession of philosophy. O'
:he admurable courage and high spirit of this man, who coming
irom the mill, with that very hand which turned about the
5tone, ground the meal and kneaded the dough, wrote of the
lature of the gods, of the moon, of the stars and the sun ! But
Are do think all these to be base and servile works ; and yet verily,
because we would be free (God wot), we care not to thrust our-
selves into debt, we pay for the use of money, we flatter vile and
jase persons, we give them presents, we invite and feast them,
ve yield (as it were) tribute underhand unto them ; and this we
lo not in regard of poverty (for no man useth to put forth his
noney into a poor man's hand), but even upon a superfluity and
iotous expense of our own: for if we could content ourselves
vith those things that are necessary for the life of man, there
vould not be an usurer in the world, no more than there are
centaurs and monstrous gorgons. But excess it is and daintiness-
vhich hath engendered usurers; like as the same hath bred
goldsmiths, silversmiths, confectioners, perfumers, and dyers-
)f gallant colours. We come not in debt to bakers and vintners
or our bread and wine; but we owe rather for the price and
mrchase of fair houses and lands, for a great number and!
etinue of slaves, of fine mules, of trim halls and dining chambers,
)f rich tables and the costly furniture belonging thereto, besides
)ther foolish and excessive expenses which we oftentimes are at,,
vhen we exhibit plays and solemn pastimes into whole cities for
o gratify and do pleasure unto the people; and that upon a
/ain ambition and desire of popular favour; and many times we
eceive no other fruit of all our cost and labour but ingratitude.
Now he that is once enwrapped in debt remaineth a debtor
;till all the days of his life; and he fareth like to an horse, who
ifter he hath once received the bit into his mouth, changeth his
ider eftsoons, and is never unridden, but one or other is always-
)n his back. No way and means there is to avoid from thence,,
md to recover those fair pastures and pleasant meadows out
)f which those indebted persons are turned; but they wander
i,stray to and fro, like to those cursed fiends and malign spirits
vhom Empedocles writeth to have been driven by the gods out.
)f heaven:

For such the heavenly power first chas'd down to the sea beneath;.
The sea again up to the earth did cast them by and by;
Then afterwards, the earth them did unto the beams bequeath
Of restless sun, and they at last sent them to starry sky.

420 Plutarch's Morals

Thus fall they into the hands of usurers or bankers, one after
another; now of a Corinthian, then of a Patrian, and after of an
Athenian; ^ so long, until when all of them have had a fling at
him, he become in the end wasted, eaten out and consumed with
usury upon usury, for like as "he that is stepped into a quagmire
must either at first get forth of it, or else continue still there and
not remove afkll out of one place; for he that striveth, tumeth
and windeth every way, not only doth wet and drench his body,
but mireth it all over and bewrayeth himself more than he was
at first with filthy dirt; even so they that do nothing but change
one bank for another, making a transcript of their name out of
one usurer's book into another's, loading their shoulders eftsoons
with new and fresh usuries, become always overcharged more
and more; and they resemble for all the world those persons
who are diseased with the choleric passion or flux, who will not
admit of any perfect cure to purge it at once, but continually
taking away a certain portion of the humour, make room for
more and more still, to gather and engender in the place; for
even so these are not willing to be rid and cleansed at once, but
with dolour, grief, and anguish pay usury every season and
quarter of the year; and no sooner have they discharged one,
but another distilleth and runneth down after it, which gathereth
to an head; and so by that means they are grieved with the
heartache and pain of the head; whereas it behoved that they
should make quick dispatch, and give order to be clear and free
once for all; for now I direct my speech unto those of the better
sort, who have wherewith above their fellows, and yet be nicer
than they should be; and those commonly come in with such-like
words and excuses as these: How then; would you have me
unfurnished of slaves and servants ? to live without fire, without
an house and abiding-place ? which is all one as if he that were
in a dropsy and swollen as big as a tun, should say unto a
physician; What will you do? would you have me to be lean,
lank, spare-bodied and empty; and why not? or what shouldest
not thou be contented to be, so thou mayest recover thy health
and be whole again? and even so may it be said unto thee?
Better it were for to be without slaves than to be a slave thyself;
and to remain without heritage and possession, that thou mayest
not be possessed by another.

Hearken a little to the talk that was between two geirs or
vultures as the tale goes ; when one of them disgorged so strongly
that he said withal ; I think verily that I shall cast up my very
^ Or Corinthian again.

Against Usury 421

I owels : the other being by, answered in this wise : What harm
A /ill come of thy vomiting so long as thou shalt not cast up thine
cwn entrails, but those only of some dead prey which we tare
and devoured together but the other day; semblably every one
taat is indebted selleth not his own land, nor his own house;
1: ut indeed the usurer's house and land of whom he hath taken
rioney for interest, considering that by the law the debtor hath
Eiade him lord of him and all. Yea, marry, will he say anon;
h ut my father hath left me this piece of land for mine inheritance :
I wot well and believe it; so hath thy father left unto thee
f eedom, good name, and reputation, whereof thou oughtest to
riake much more account than of land and living. He that
begat thee made thy hand and thy foot; and yet if it chance
t lat one of them be mortified, he will give a good fee or a
riward to a chirurgeon for to cut it off. Lady Calypso clad
I lysses with a vesture and robe scenting sweet like balm, yield-
ii ig an odour of a body immortal, which she presented unto him
a y a gift and memorial of the love that she bare unto him; and
t us he did wear for her sake; but after that he suffered ship-

V reck and was ready to sink, being hardly able to float above
vater, by reason that the said robe was all drenched and so
hjavy that it held him down, he did it off and threw it away;
a id then girding his naked breast underneath with a certain
b "oad fillet or swaddling band, he saved himself by swimming,
a id recovered the bank : now when he was past this danger and
S' emed to be landed, he seemed to want neither raiment nor
n itriment : and what say you to this ? may not this be counted
a very tempest, whenas the usurer after a certain time shall
c )me to assail the poor debtors and say unto them: Pay:

Which word once said, therewith the clouds above,
He gathereth thick, and sea with waves doth move:
For why? the winds anon at once from east,
From south, from west, do blow and give no rest,

/ nd what be these winds and waves ? even usuries upon usuries,
p iffing, blowing, and rolling one after another; and he that is
0 'erwhelmed therewith and kept under with their heavy weight,
i; not able to swim forth and escape, but in the end is driven
c )wn and sinketh to the very bottom, where he is drowned and
p ;rished together with his friends, who entered into bonds and
h icame sureties and pledges for him.
Crates, the philosopher of Thebes, therefore did very well,

V ho being in danger and debt to no man, only wearied with the
c -res and troubles of housekeeping, and the pensive thoughts

422 Plutarch's Morals

how to hold his own, left all and gave over his estate and
patrimony, which amounted to the value of eight talents, took
himself to his bag and wallet, to his simple robe and cloak of
coarse cloth, and fled into the sanctuary and liberties of philo-
sophy and poverty. As for Anaxagoras, he forsook his fair
lands and plenteous pastures: but what need I to allege these
examples? considering that Philoxenus the musician, being
sent with other to people and possess a new colony in Sicily,
and having befallen to his lot a goodly house and living to it,
enjoying (I say) for his part a good portion wherewith he might
have lived in fulness and plenty; when he saw once that delights,
pleasures and idleness without any exercise at all of good letters
reigned in those parts; Pardie (quoth he), these goods here
shall never spoil and undo me, but I will rather (I trow) make
a hand and havoc of them; leaving therefore unto others his
portion that fell unto him by lot, he took sea again and sailed
away to Athens. Contrariwise, those that be in debt are ever-
more sued in the law, becom.e tributaries and very slaves,
bearing and enduring all indignities, like unto those varlets that
dig in silver mines, nourishing and maintaining as Phineus did
the ravenous winged harpies: for surely these usurers always
fly upon them, and be ready to snatch and carry away their
very food and sustenance; neither have they patience to stay
and attend times and seasons; for they buy up their debtor's
corn before it be ripe for the harvest; they make their markets
of oil before the olives fall from the tree, and likewise of wine:
For I will have it at this price (quoth the usurer); and withal
the debtor giveth him presently a bill of his hand for such a
bargain; meanwhile the grapes hang still upon the vine, waiting
for the month of September, when the star Arcturus riseth and
sheweth the time of vintage.'

GLOSSARY AND INDEX OF NAMES

i icademy, 399, 404

-vchasan, 115

Achelous, 397

Acheron, 379

Achilles, 7, 43, 62, 81, 82, 94, 99,

loo, 108, 122, 156, 171, 306, 324
Adamantus, 224
iidrastus, 335
-Egine, 171
.Emilius, 179
. Eschines, 83, 127, 229
. Eschre, 177
.Eschylus, 107, 317, 354, 355, 370,

403, 409
. Esculapius, 107, 141

Esop, 237, 355
. Etolie, 137

Agamemnon, 81, 96, 99, 108, 122,
159, 170, 220, 383

igathocles, 117
. Vgathon, 286

V.gave, 378

vgesias, 78

^gesilaus, 47, 53, 201, 203, 219, 353,
359, 368

Vgis the Argive, 65, 161, 162

Vgnon, 78

V^ypnia, 272

Vjax, 21, 228, 249, 383, 400

Ucaeus, 281

Vlcibiades, 46, 89, 162, 271, 357,
367

Ucinous, 400

Ucmaeon, 335, 397

Vlcman, 391

Uenas, 241, 242

Uexander the Great, 21, 41, 48, 57,
61, 62, 65, 78, 79, 93, 107, 116,
120, 149, 158, 171, 173, 174, 193,
194, 306, 312, 315, 316, 325, 353,
369, 399, 405

Alexander Pherses the Tyrant, 41

Vlexandria, 396

Uexinus, 206

\^maebeus, 6

\mestries, 388

Vmmonius, 91

\mphictyons, 266

imydum (s.), bread made from fine
meal flour

Anacharsis, 251, 354

Anaxagoras, 129, 178, 210, 318, 368,

384, 389, 410, 422
Anaxarchus, 13, 21, 158, 189
Anchyses, 29
Androtion, 404
Annibal, 406
Antigonus, 115, 118, 196, 202, 227,

254, 418
Antimachus, 271
Antiochi, 227

Antiochus, 222, 234, 235, 406
Antiochus Philopappus, 38
Antipater, 75, 166, 174, 192, 199,

274, 281, 353, 404
Antiphantes, 354
Antiphon, 84, 225
Antisthenes, 335, 409
Antonius, 67
Antony, 56
Antycira, 126
Anytus, 181
Apaid (v.), pleased
Apelles, 61, 64, 73, 172
Apollo, 38, 56, 79, 173, 192, 236,

242, 266, 270, 280, 335, 385, 409,

413,414
Apollonis the Cyzicen, 214
Apollonius the Peripatetic, 231
Apprenticage (s.), apprenticeship
Apprentissage (s.), apprenticeship
Arabian, 323
Araspes, 148, 368
Arcadian, 115
Arcadie, 211

Arcesilaus, 53, 73, 124, i66
Archedice, 242
Archemorus, 305 '

Archidamus, 204, 404
Archilochus, 144, 247, 402
Arcturus, 394, 422
Aread {v.), guess, interpret
Argive, 115, 336, 393
Argos, 402, 408
Argus, 305
Ariamenes, 233, 234
Aristarchus, 209

Aristides, 116, 129, 315, 348, 368
Aristippus, 34, 127, 165, 278, 357
Aristodemus, 382

423

424

Plutarch's Morals

Aristogiton, 84, 253

Aristomenes, 93

Ariston, 2, 137, 300, 393, 404

Aristophanes, 33, 93

Aristophon, 405

Aristotle, 4, 17, 48, 106, 118, 121,
174, 247, 286, 353, 399, 402, 404

Artabanus, 234

Artaphemes, 415

Asaphi, 177

Asclepiades, 53, 181

Asia, 47, 198, 227, 237, 251, 316,
403

Aspis, 191

Assos, 404

Ate, 122

Athamas, 378

Athenaeus, 214

Athenian, 82, 84, 93, 116, 120, 123,
194, 199, 235, 252, 253, 261, 267,
271, 325, 333, 351, 366, 382, 393,
394, 396, 404, 414, 415, 420

Athenodorus, 222, 223

Athens, 46, 47, 61, 66, 120, 129, 135,
151, 166, 196, 202, 249, 251, 253,
261, 286, 313, 353, 360, 385, 395,
396, 402, 403, 404, 408, 410, 415,
418, 423

Atheos, 160

Athos, 109, 168

Atossa, 233, 234

Atreus, 159, 170, 215

Attains, 214, 236

Attic, 229, 355

Auditory (s.), audience

Augustus, 84, 258

Babylon, 353, 402, 404

BacchcBS, 409

Bacchanals, 399, 402

Bacchus, 56, 65, 125, 185, 273, 332,

371, 406, 409
Bacelat, 391
Bachilides, 404
Bagoas, 78

Bains (s.), baths, bagnios
Barsine (Lady), 193
Battus, 53

Behoveful {adj.), needful, profitable
Belive {adv.), at once, forthwith
Bellerophontes, 191
BerecjTithian, 398
Bewray {v.), betray
Bias, 57, 68, 196, 248
Bion, 62, 206, 363
Biskay, 265
Bith5mian, 167
Biton, 61
Blab (s.), tell-tale, babbler

Bocchorus, 191

BcEOtian, 161

Borborus, 399

Boreas, 156

Bourd {s.), jest

Braid {$.), fancy, caprice, quick

motion
Brasides, 348
Briareus, 168, 305, 311
Briseis, 122
Brison, 171
Brutus, 191
Budaeus, 162
Byzantine, 282, 334

Cadmian, 232

CcBcias, 334

Caenius, 347

Caepion, 231

Caesar, 65, 84, 125, 259, 3*3, 339

Caius Gracchius, no

Calamoboas, 274

Caligula, 386

Calisto, 177

Callias, 35, 286

Callicles, 199

Callimachus, 398

Callinicus, 260

Callippus, 192

Callisthenes, 77, 107, 116

Calthrap (s.), star-thistle

CaljT^so (Lady), 421

Cambyses, 237

Camillus, 116, 405

Candie, 328, 398

Candiot, 237

Caprea, 398

Carkan (s.), a chain of precious

stones
Carking {adj.), distressing
Carneades, 62, 178, 184, 271, 274
Carthage, 315, 414
Carthaginian, 332, 387, 406
Cassander, 193, 227
Cassius Severus, 65
Cast (s.), trick
Castor, 208, 221, 224, 228
Castoreum (L.) (s.), a secretion of the

beaver used medicinally
Gates {s.),food

Cato, 129, 188, 199, 202, 231, 341
Catulus, 202, 203
Cautelous {adj.), crafty, wary
Cauterise {v.), brand with a hot iron
Celmus, 391
Celtiberia, 265
Cephisocrates, 74
Cephisus, 395
Ceramicum, 196, 252

Glossary and Index of Names 425

xraunian, 394
'^ercopes, 65
Oerdous, 172
lucres, 185, 383, 402, 408

Zertes (adv.), clearly, surely
Ohabrias, 35
Ohaerias, 386
Ohaeron, 133
Ohalciaecos, 262
Ohares, 229
Oharicles, 222
Ohaiilaus, 54

< 'harillus, 324
Oharmides, 269
Oharybdes, 182
Ohian, 167
('hilon, 312, 329

Chios, 73, 165, 168, 342, 356, 399,

404
Chloris, 135
Ohoaspes, 395
Chorius, 126

< though {$.), a kind of crow

• ',hrysippus, 2, 17, 20, 22, 23,
404

< icero, 339, 405

< ;icilia, 166, 204

< 'immerian, 384

• "inarus, 397
« ;inesius, 385

< irces, 46

< -irrha, 348

< "itiean, 2, 404

< Uttern (s.), an old musical instru-

ment shaped like a lute but strung
with wires

• 'lawback (s.), flatterer

< leanthes, 53, 404, 418, 419

< learchus, 87

< leobis, 61

< leomenes, 49
I leon, 93, 137

< leopatra, 67

' lepe (v.), call
I lithonie, 177
' lodius, 267, 405

< lopidie, 137

I lytus, 21, 116

'ockal (s.), a game played with
knuckle-hones, usually sheeps*
' odrus, 399, 408

'og (v.), flatter

• olophonian, 271
' "olyttus, 394

'on {v.), express or owe {thanks)
'oncorporate {adj.), incorporate
'oney-catch {v.), trick or deceive
'-orinth, 90, 266, 353, 376, 395, 402,
410

Corinthian, 93, 149, 393, 394, 419.

420
Cojmelius Pulcher, 328
Corquan (s.), embroidery
Courries (s.), messenger
Cozen {v.), deceive, cajole
Cranium, 394
Crassus, 335, 337
Craterus, 227, 255
Crates, 88, 159, 330, 418, 421
Creon, 192, 262, 312
Crisson, 62
Critias, 387
Critolaus, 404
Croesus, 61, 89
Cromnum, 204
Ctesiphon, 113
Ctesius, 413
Cupid, 253
Cupping-glasses (s.), glass cups used

for drawing blood by the creation of

a partial vacuum
Cup-shotten {adj.), intoxicated
Cyaxeres, 89
Cyclades, 399
Cyclops, 32, 254, 399
Cypres, 41
Cyprius, 57
Cyrus, 89, 117, 148, 218, 232, 237,

273, 325
Cyziceni, 227

Damon, 306
Danaus, 301
Darius, 42, 149, 151, 229, 233, 237,

415
Dascyles, 391
Datis, 415

Debonarity {s.), graciousness
Defeature (s.), defeat
Delphi, 414

Delphos, 161, 236, 242, 402
Demades, 281, 283
Demands {Fr.) (s.), the person asked

{a question)
Demaratus, 90

Demetrius, 78, 88, 180, 192, 266, 396
Democritus, 17, 147, 173, 297, 359
Demosthenes, 88, 188, 194, ig6, 229,

264, 283, 321, 357
Denys (the Tyrant), 46, 47, 49, 56,

83, 84, 161, 171, 199, 260, 261
Deris, 177
Devoir (s.), duty
Diagorus, 387
Diament (s.), diamond
Diana, 177, 385, 414
Dinaea, 177
Ding-thrift (s.), wastrel

426

Plutarch's Morals

Diogenes, 27, 33, 90, 100, 122, 149,
159, 160, 184, 196, 284, 288, 330,
333, 351, 352, 353, 356, 361, 362,
396, 402, 404, 405, 406

Diomea, 394

Diomedes, 59, 94, 96, 227

Dion, 47, 49, 89, 192, 312

Dionysia, 358

Dionysii, 151

Dionysius, 83, 266, 312

Dioxippus, 147

Dirce, 285

Dis, 388

Dodkin [s.), doit, half a farthing

Dolon, 21 348

Dolour (s.), grief

Domitian, 150

Domitius, 335, 341

Dorian, 365

Dulce (u.), soothe

Dulichium, 400

Echinades, 400

Edepsus, 232

Eftsoons (adv.), again, afterwards

Egypt, 56, 191, 254

Egyptian, 67, 136, 388, 395

Eke {adv.), also

Elea, 404

Electra, 107, 156

Eleusine, 402

Eleusinium, 408

Eleusis, 408

Elis, 400

EUeborus (s.), hellebore

Embassage {s.), embassy, mission

Empedocles, 73, 130, 133, 173, 177,

304, 309, 317, 387, 409, 419
Enyalius, 172
Eolus, 400
Epaminondas, 47, 161, 173, 274, 286,

306, 368
Eperaste, 135
Ephesus, 414
Ephialtes, 397
Ephori, 366
Ephorus, 274
Epicharmus, 84
Epicurean, 153, 197
Epicurus, 157, 177, 231
Epimetheus, 321
Epirus, 404
Erasistratus, 140, 297
Erasmus, 197
Eressus, 404
Eretria, 2, 264
Ergane, 319
Eros, 104, 154
Eteocles, 215

Ethiopia, 374, 395

Ethiopian, 323

Eubulus, 229

Euclides, 126, 236

Euctaeus, 89

Euenus, 301

Eulffius, 89

Eumenes, 214, 236, 255

Eumolpus, 408

Euphorbius, 264

Euphorion, 173, 403

Euphrone, 148

Eupolis, 50

Euripides, 40, 70, 86, 92, 98, 130,
170, 177, 180, 191, 192, 196, 198,
214, 215, 245, 247, 254, 284, 300,
301, 311, 368, 402, 405, 407

Europa (Lady), 407

Europe, 316

Eurotas, 395

Eurynidon, 300

Eurypylus, 117

Euthycrates, 264, 315

Euthydemus, 124

Evenus, 40

Fabricius, i5i

Fardel (5.), burden

Featly (adv.), deftly, nimbly

Feere (s.), fear

Felon (in the finder) (s.), a painful

inflammation tn the joint of the

finger
Ferriage (s.), conveyance, price for

carnage
Fluke (s.), the palm of an anchor
Foil (s.), a fall in wrestling, not

cleanly given
Foison (s.), harvest
Forlay (v.), waylay
Forlet (v.), abandon, hinder
Fosse, 404

Frim (adj.), strong, flourishing, juicy
Frump (s.), dowdy, gossip
Fulvius, 258

Fundanus, 102, 103, 104, 154
Furies, 397

Gage (s.), pledge, pawn
Galatia, 278
Galatian, 167, 235, 260
Gape (v.), grab after
Gauding, jesting
Gauds, toys or beads
Gaudy-days, holidays, festivals
Gaul, 374, 387

Geason (adj.), rare, scanty, unpro-
ductive

Glossary and Index of Names 427

Gdr (s.), vulture

Gelas, 403

Germanicus Caesar, 323

Gird (s.), twitch, sharp stroke

Glaucus, 224, 227

Glavering [v.), babbling, gossiping,

wheedling
Glazing {v.), deceiving, cajoling
Glycon, 404
Gobrias, 42
Gorgias, 75
Gracchus, no
Graces, 378
Grecian, 393, 406
Greece, 93, 223, 266, 337, 393, 403,

408, 415
Greek, 7, 10, 46, 85, 90, 94, 115, 116,

162, 171, 180, 187, 188, 232, 290,

293, 300, 306, 324, 354, 373, 374i

375, 383, 405, 408
Gnn (s.), snare
Orison {s.), grey eagle
Grypi, 227
Gyaros, 397
Gyges, 167, 391

Hades, 388

Harmodius, 84, 253

Harpalus, 194

Hecate, 375

Hector, 94, 99, 100, 272, 383

Hecuba, 385

Hegesias, 302

Helena (Lady), 107

Helicon, 129

Helicona Cyzicene, 199

Heliope, 177

Hellespont, 168

Heptacalchon, 251

Heptaphonos, 245

HeracUtus, 33, 114, 140, 266, 317,

401
Hercules, 56, 63, 65, 73, 95, 167, 193,

204, 242, 338, 378, 393, 397, 409
Hercules Atistheneus, 207
Hermiones, 194
Hermolaus, 386
Herodotus (the Halicamassean), 34,

211, 403, 409
Herodotus (the Thurian), 403
Hesiodus, 156, 174, 193, 199, 214,

239, 240, 286, 321, 342, 351, 383
Hichet (s.). See Yex
Hiero (King), 84, 93, 338
Hieronjonus, 107, 122
Himersean, 62
Himerius, 66

Hippocrates, no, 274, 338, 362
Hippolytus, 45

Hipponax, 277

Homer, 5, 7, 16, 21, 26, 27, 52, 81,
85, 94, 95, 103, 104, 107, 108, 126,
144, 156, 162, 170, 171, 172, 175,
179, 190, 209, 214, 220, 227, 228,
250, 253, 266, 272, 294, 299, 306,
309, 324, 338, 356, 358, 360, 369,
383, 385, 392, 399, 403

Homerides, 25

Homeris, 299

Hurlbat (s.j, a projectile which was
whirled in the air to increase its
impetus

Hyperia, 399

Hjrperides, 82, 229

H5rpsipyle (Lady), 305

Ibycus, 263

Icarus, 389, 410

Ida, 256, 398

Idaei Dactyli, 368

Iliad, 266, 385

Ilotes, no

Impostume (s.), abscess

Ingram {adj.), ignorant

Ino (Lady), 254

In sum, in fine

lolaus, 242

Ion of Chios, 356

Ionia, 271

Iphicius, 242

Iphicrates, 35, 320

Ipocras (s.), a cordial made of spiced

wines
Ischomachus, 135
Isis, 191

Ismenias, 173, 286
Ismenus, 408
Isthmian, 356, 402
Italy, 142

Jew, 371, 383

Jocasta, 405, 407

Jove, 383

Juno, 262, 299, 385

Jupiter, 51, 53, 65, 156, 159, 167,

170, 172, 175, 214, 378, 383, 392,

403, 413, 418

Knap (v.), snap, crack
Knurry {adj.), knotty

LacedaemoUj 184, 204, 219, 243, 262
Lacedaemoman, 75, 106, no, 117,

217, 266, 271, 382, 394
Lacedaemonian Ephori, 366
Lacedaemonian schoolmaster, 27
Laconia, 266
Laconian, 54, 265

428

Plutarch's Morals

Laconian schoolmaster, 34

Lacydes, 73, 74, 336

Laertes, 156

Lagus, 116

Laius, 149

Lamia, 134

Lampsacus, 404

Lask (adj.), loose

Lasthenes, 315

Lasus, 194

Latona, 385

Leaena, 253

Lechery (s.), lewdness

Leech (adj.), lecherous

Leese (v.), set loose

Lemnos, 399, 410

Leo, 334

Leobates, 405

Leosthenes, 229

Lesbos, 399

Leucothea, 243

Leuctres, 274

Lickerous (adj.), eager, craving,

greedy
Li via, 258
Lob (s.), dull fellow
Locri, 142
Loxias, 266
Lucullus, 224
Lyasus, 85, 126
Lycaeum, 404

Lycurgus, 25, 265, 292, 324, 368
Lydia, 61, 223
Lydian, 77, 365
Lydius, 85
Ljoiceus, 331
Lysander, 93, 201
Lysias, 250
Lysimache, 202
Lysimachus, 137, 259, 406
Lyssas, 385

Macedon, 280

Macedonia, 90, 115, 179, 195, 264,

397, 399, 403, 404
Macedonian, 179, 200, 236, 399
Maenas, 385

Maffle (v.), stammer, falter
Magas, 21, 115
Magi, 42, 323
Malta, 173

Manchet (s.), small loaf or muffin
Mantous, 172

Manumise (v.), release from slavery
Marathon, 342

Marchpain (s.), marzipan, sweetmeat
Marimul (s.), a kind of sore or ulcer
Marish (s.), marsh
Marius, 125, 251

Mars, 400

Marsyas, iii

Matuta, 243

Maugre (prep.), in spite of

Media, 192, 233, 353, 402, 414

Median, 414

Medimnus, 218

Medius, 78, 173

Megabyzus, 61, 172

Megara, 180, 404

Megarean, 93, 206, 284, 364

Melanthius, 41, 105, 408

Melite, 394

Melisponda, 131

Melitus, 181, 348

Menander, 23, 63, 157, i77, i79, 183,
195, 211, 240, 279, 305

Menedemus, 2, 53, 174, 206, 360

Menelaus, 53, 99, 287, 309

Menon, 304

Mercury, 246

Merope, 72, 337

Merops, 154

Messina, 408

Messinian, 382, 416

Messuage, a dwelling-hotise with ad-
joining lands

Metageitnia, 394

Metageitnion, 394

Metella, 252

Metellus, 116, 226, 255

Metrocles, 162

Micher (s.), a sneak or thief

Mickle (adj. or adv.), much

Midas, 382

Miletus, 271

Milichius, 116

Miltiades, 300, 342, 366

Minerva, iii, 185, 202, 217, 235, 319,
408, 413

Minos, 399

Minutius, 337

Mithridates, 59, 251

McBnoles, 126

Molionides, 209

Morphew (s.), an irruption of the skin

Morsure (s.), a bite

Mumactes, 116

Mundify (v.), cleanse

Mura;na, 341

Musaea, 148

Muses, 27, 117, 148, 161, 214, 250,
378, 404

Musonius, 104, 418

Mutius, 115

Nasica, 332
Nausisthous, 399
Naxos, 397

Glossary and Index of Names 429

Neleus, 399

Nemertes, 177

Neocles, 300

Neoptolemus, 117, 255

Nephalia, 131

Neptune, 235, 364

Nero, 56, 66, 125, 252, 312, 364

Nestor, 99, 249, 272, 287

Nicias, 262, 382

Nicocreon, 21

Nicomachus, 71

Nicostratus, 204

Nigrinus, 209

Niobe, 385

Ochus, 214

Odaeum, 404

Odyssey, 217, 266

CEdipus, 95, 149, 302

Olj^mpia, 168, 245

Olympian games, 115, 135, 147

Olynthus, 116, 176, 315

Omestes, 126

Onomademus, 342

Opheltes, 305

Opus, 222

Orestes, 126, 156, 306

Orion, 397

Orthangle (s.), right angle

Otacoustes (Gr.) (s.), spy

Otus, 397

Paccius, 154, 163

Palladium, 404

Panatius, 129

Pancratiastae, 228, 271

Pandarus, 95, 109

Panthea (Lady), 148, 368

Pjirachytae, 325

Paraetonimn, 115

Parasang [Persian measure), about

5 J miles
Pardie (Fr.), verily (formerly an oath)
Pcuris, 99
Parmenides, 224
Parmenio, 312
Parmenion, 78
Parmeno, 21
Parnassus, 133, 395
Parthenon, 408
Parthian, 404
Patrian, 419, 420
Patroclus, 62, 82, 306
Paulas iEmilius, 179
Pausanias, 337, 386
Pegasus, 191
Peisa, 104

Peise (v.), weigh down
Peleus, 82, 116, 156

Pelias, 62

Pella, 399

Pelopidas, 117, 356

Peloponnesian, 404

Peloponnesus, 243, 404

Penelope, 5, 254

Pergamus, 236

Periander, 376

Pericles, 195, 300, 413

Perilaus, 227

Peripatetics, 404

Peripatos, 206

Perithous, 313

Persia, 42, 61, 233, 234, 249, 323,

353, 396, 399, 402
Persian, 217, 233, 234, 381, 395, 398,

416
Perseus, 89, 179, 199, 236
Peruke (s.), wig
Petty (s.), child, boy
Phaedra, 45

Phaethon, 159, 389, 410
Phalaris, 56, 348
Phalerian, 88, 396
Phanias, 157
Phaselus, 404
Philagrus, 264
Philemon, 21, 115
Phileta;rus, 214
Philip, 49, 84, 90, 115, 116, 145, 264,

266, 271, 315, 386, 397, 399, 402,

404, 406
Philippides, 137, 259
Philocrates, 264, 315
Philopappus, 80
Philotas, 21, 78, 312
Philotimus, 97
Philoxenus, 171, 194, 422
Phineus, 422

Phocion, 75, 120, 199, 281, 368
Phoebas, 385
Phoenician, 409
Phoenix, 94
Phrygian, 403, 409
Phrynis, 366
Phytalmius, 25
Pikh (s.), outer garment usually made

of leather
Pindarus, 25, 85, 114, 161, 184, 207,

333, 341, 378, 398
Pinthous, 306
Pisistratus, 115
Pismire (s.), ant or emmet
Pittacus, 169, 223, 254
Plait (s.), wrinkle
Plato, 2, 4, II, 21, 23, 27, 30, 33, 38,

42, 44, 46, 47, 48, 55, 83, 90, 92,

93, 112, 129, 154, 159, 161, 171,

173, 175, 178, 185, 203, 221, 223,

430

Plutarch's Morals

Plato — continued

224, 241, 265, 300, 317, 318, 334,
337, 343, 348, 354, 355, 363, 367,
368, 378, 388, 393, 399, 410, 412,
415

Plautus, 312

Pleiades, 300, 394

Plonder {v.), hunt for

Plutarch, 32, 36, 132, 153, 154, 187,
208. 276, 290, 304, 315, 322, 328,

371, 384,411

Pluto, 175, 377

Polemon, 93, 126, 399

Polias, 202

Pollux, 208, 221, 224, 228

Polycletus, 370

Polycrates, 376

Pol3Tuces, 215, 391, 405, 407

Polype (s.), octopus

Polypragmon, 42

Polysperchon, 193, 200

Pompeius, 336, 339

Pompion (s.), pumpkin

Poneropolis, 145

Pontus, 247, 396

Porket (s.), sucking pig

Porsenna, 115

Porus, 116

Posthumia, 337

Posthumius, 258

Pourcuttle (s.), octopus, cuttle-fish

Pourpris (s.), precinct

Prest {adj.), prompt, ready

Priamus, 126, 316, 332

Prickyrest (adj.), most prickly

Prometheus, 319, 321, 330, 336

Prosagogidee (Gr.) (s.), pimp, tale-
bearer

Proserpina, 408

Proteus, 314

Ptolemaeus, 49, 56, 64, 93, 116,
396

Publius Piso, 267

Puddering (v.), interfering, bothering

Pule (v.), whimper

Pydna, 89

Pylades, 306

Pyrasum, 261

Pyrrho, 363

Pytane, 394

Pythagoras, 3, 91, 135, 143, 311, 340,

384
P3^hagorean, 197, 233, 397
Pythia, 240

Pythian games, 185, 403
Pythias, 306
Pythius Apollo, 173

Quean (s.), wench, slut

Quern (s.), mill for grinding grain
Quintus, 209

Rede (v.), warn

Reits (s.), sea-weed

Retchless {adj.), reckless

Revie (s.), retort or question

Rhodian, 117, 281, 393

Rivel (s.), wrinkle

Roman, 56, 89, 117, 161, 167, 226,

243, 256, 267, 292, 332, 341, 397,

406, 413, 418
Rome, 65, 103, 145, 150, 154, 161,

167, 202, 212, 226, 251, 252, 256,

267, 351, 405
Rowen (s.), old bird
Ruddle {v.), shake {a sieve)
Rustius, 150
Rutilius, 418

Salaminas, 234

Salanus, 300

Samius, 49

Samos, 376

Sappho, 112, 360

Sapragoras, 282

Sardinian, 391

Sardis, 391, 394, 410

Sardonian, 383

Saturn, 170, 185, 387

Saturnal, 185

Satjrrus, 118

Scammonium (L.). See Scammony

Scammony {s.), a species of convol-
vulus whose roots are used medicin-
ally

Scaurus, 341

Schcene {Gr.), about 3 J miles

Scillos, 404

Scilluntia, 399

Scipio, 226, 315, 332

Scoffe {v. or s.), sneer

Scopas, 287

Scull (s.), shoal

Scylurus, 267

Scyrii, 96

Scyros, 400, 410

Scythian, 34, 267, 387

Seely {adj.), weak, poor

Sejanus, 312

Seleuci, 227

Seleucus, 235, 260

Semblably {adv.), similarly

Semele, 406

Seneca, 125

Seriphos, 396

Sexius, 351

Shewer (s.), servant, waitet

Sicilian, 56

Glossary and Index of Names 431

Sicily, 83, 89, 151, 261, 398, 403,
404, 422

Silenes, 65

Simon, 300

Simonides. 11, 38, -jj, 144, 203, 274,
341, 355, 367, 397, 403

Sinopian, 351, 396

Sions, 225

Skinker (s.), tapster

SmjTma, 75

Smymaean, 75

Socrates, 21, 83, 89, 90, 94, 108, 116,
124, 135, 148, 159, 168, 180, 229,
236, 269, 270, 271, 272, 286, 288,
304, 305, 325, 338, 339, 368, 389,
393, 410

Soli, 404

Solon, 61, 89, 173, 223, 251, 280,
292, 343, 353, 415

Sophocles, II, 48, 100, 117, 122, 129,
147, 162, 191, 217, 221, 249, 262,
268, 280, 300, 310, 316, 335, 354,

366.384 . , „ .
Sorites, a senes of syllogisms of
which the predicate of the first is
the subject of the second, and so on
Sossius Senecio, 346
Sotion, 231

Sparta, 46, 173, 208, 324, 391
Speusippus, 89, 93, 241
Spurius, 337
Stagira, 404
Steut (v.), bind, holdfast
Stilpo, 162, 180, 206, 364
Stoa, 404
Stoic, I, 19, 21, 27, 61, 172, 190, 197,

225, 274, 345, 347, 404
Stound (s.), moment
Stouphes (s.), hot baths, stews
Strato, 174, 404
Stratonice, 236
Stratonicus, 280, 396
Struthias, 57
Styx, 377
Sum. See In sum
Sunium, 394

Suppuration (s.), the generation of pus
or matter

Surd {adj.), deaf

Susae, 402

Susis, 353

Suture (s.), seam

Sweart (adj.), dark, swarthy

Swinge [v.), scourge

Sylla, 102, 103, 104, 252

Syracuse, 46, 47

Syracusans, 151

Syria, 41

Syrian, 135, 385

Tabernacle, 371

Taenarus, 394

Taigetus, 395

Tantalus, 386, 398, 415

Targetiere {$.), shield-bearer

Tarsus, 66

Tartarian, 387

Taurominium, 405

Taurus, 264

Teen (s.), woe, affliction, hate

Tdgh {v.), titter

Telamon, 52

Telemachus, 214, 287

Telephus, 336

Telesphorus, 406

Tellus, 61

Tenedos, 413

Teucer, 52, 228

Thamyris, 109

Tharsus, 404

Thasos, 402

Theaetetus, 269

Theban, 106, 117, 215, 393

Thebes, 88, 149, 232, 286, 353, 409^..

421

Themistocles, 203, 300, 324, 337^

342, 366, 396, 405
Theocritus, 202, 399
Theodectes, 209
Theodorus, 160, 406
Theognis, 314

Theophrastus, 238, 286, 353, 404
Thersytes, 324
Theseus, 306, 313, 408
Thessalian, 242, 304, 336
Thessaly, 241, 342
Thetis, 82

Thill (s.), shaft of a plough
Thoas, 399, 404
Thoosa, 177

Thracia, 46, 135, 404, 408
Thracian, 25, 167
Thrasibulus, 115
Thrasonides, 280
Thucydides, 55, 93, 96, 199, 205, 271^

313, 326, 356, 404
Thuria, 397
Thurian, 142
Thyas, 385

Tiberius Caesar, 65, 312, 398
Tideus, 96
Timseus, 154, 404
Timagenes, 84
Timesias, 312
Timon, 13, 231
Timotheus, 385, 405
Turesias, 378
Tissaphernes, 46, 271
Titus Petronius, 66

432

Plutarch's Morals

Toward [adj.), docile, tractable

Triptolemus, 415

Trojan, 227

Trot (s.), old woman

Troy, 100

Truss (s.), bundle, package

Tryphones, 388

Tunaja, 162

Tuscany, 121

Tyndarus, 228

Tyribasus, 381

Tyro, 135

Ulysses, 5, 46, 53, 81, 82, 96, 99, 135,

179, 182, 253, 254, 309,324,400, 421

Unneth {adj.), difficult
■Untowardly {adv.), unpleasantly

Ventose {s.). See Cupping-glass
Venus, 12, 172, 251, 385
Vesta, 306, 337

Whit flaw (5.), inflammation of the
finger

Xantippe, 124, 339

Xantippus, 300

Xenocrates, 14, 27, 93, 146, 200,

399
Xenophanes, 193, 388
Xenophon, 53, 87, 134, 155, 328, 329,

355, 399, 404
Xerxes, 109, 168, 214, 233, 234, 388
Xeuxis, 309

Yex (s.), cough, matter in the throat
Yonker (s.), boy, youth

Zeno, 2, 6, 127, 160, 201, 249, 252,

330, 353. 363, 400, 404
Zenon, 222
Zephyrus, 133

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