Beasts Are Rational  

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Gryllus: "Let us begin with the virtues, which, we note, inspire you with pride ; for you rate yourselves as far superior to animals in justice and wisdom and courage and all the rest of them."--"Beasts Are Rational" by Plutarch


"As for the chastity of Penelope, the cawing of countless crows will pour laughter and contempt upon it; for every crow, if her mate dies, remains a widow."--"Beasts Are Rational" by Plutarch


"And, to sum up, if you think that you are better in courage than beasts, why do your poets call the doughtiest fighters "wolf-minded" and "lion-hearted" and "like a boar in valour," though no poet ever called a lion "man-hearted" or a boar "like a man in valour"?"--"Beasts Are Rational" by Plutarch

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"Beasts Are Rational ", also known as Odysseus and Gryllus or "Περί του τα άλογα λόγω χρήσθαι - Bruta animalia ratione uti" is a text from the Moralia by Plutarch. it is a humorous dialog between Homer's Odysseus (Ulysses) and one of Circe's enchanted pigs.

It tells how Circe allows Odysseus to interview a fellow Greek turned into a pig. There his interlocutor informs Odysseus that his present existence is preferable to the human.

They then engage in a philosophical dialogue in which every human value is questioned and beasts are proved to be of superior wisdom and virtue, but especially in valor and temperance.

Contents

Full text

Beasts are Rational (Περὶ τοῦ τὰ ἄλογα λόγῳ χρῆσθαι - Bruta animalia ratione uti); [1] from the Moralia

Loeb introduction

Loeb Edition Introduction

Many will find this little jeu d'esprit as pleasant reading as anything in Plutarch. In part, this may be due to its (perhaps accidental) brevity; but its originality and freshness are undeniable. These qualities have, to be sure, puzzled a number of scholars who are still disputing whether the sources are principally Epicurean or Peripatetic or Cynic. Nothing quite like it is known elsewhere, which sad lack baffles the Quellenforscher. So, rather than allow a touch of spontaneous imagination to Plutarch, it has been confidently asserted that the dialogue must come from the school of Menippus, or be an attempt to turn the tables on Polystratus, and so on.

Everything must have a source (if only the author's ingenuity) and the source here, so far as it can be predicated with any certainty, is the tenth book of the Odyssey seen through the humorous eyes of a young Boeotian. We have here, then, a Boeotian pig instructing the favourite of Athena. It was once fashionable to assert, or imply, that since Plutarch was once a young Boeotian himself, matters could not be so simple, nor could he be the author. But the climate of scholarship is, perhaps, changing. There are few of Plutarch's admirers who will not claim this lively work for one of his more admirable achievements, written, perhaps, when he was quite young.

Even if the authorship is accepted without hesitation, there is little else that is certain except that the Stoics are constantly under attack, though rather less directly than in the preceding dialogue. There is grave doubt about the title: is it no. 127 or no. 135 in the Lamprias Catalogue? Or, as it has become popular to call it, is it really the Gryllus? There are a number of troublesome lacunae; the work, as it stands, ends suddenly with a gay witticism instead of being continued to a more conventional termination. It is only too likely that the more mature Plutarch would have gone on and on; but what would the clever young man who concocted this conceit have done?

For once, there is a good translation, or paraphrase, the German one of Bruno Snell in his Plutarch p491(Zürich, 1948), though this version gives almost too exciting an impression of vivacity and wit by omitting the more tiresome sections.

Those interested in Gryllus' remarks on the indecent ways in which men pervert animals to their taste will find a sympathetic exposition in E. G. Boulenger's Animal Mysteries (London, 1927).

Excerpt on courage and valour

ODYSSEUS. And what sort of virtue, Gryllus, is ever found in beasts?

GRYLLUS. Ask rather what sort of virtue is not found in them more than in the wisest of men? Take first, if you please, courage, in which you take great pride, not even pretending to blush when you are called "valiant" and "sacker of cities." Yet you, you villain, are the man who by tricks and frauds have led astray men who knew only a straightforward, noble style of war and were unversed in deceit and lies; while on your freedom from scruple you confer the name of the virtue that is least compatible with such nefariousness. Wild beasts, however, you will observe, are guileless and artless in their struggles, whether against one another or against you, and conduct their battles with unmistakably naked courage under the impulse of genuine valour. No edict summons them, nor do they fear a writ of desertion. No, it is their nature to flee subjection; with a stout heart they maintain an indomitable spirit to the very end. Nor are they conquered even when physically overpowered; they never give up in their hearts, even while perishing in the fray. In many cases, when beasts are dying, their valour withdraws together with the fighting spirit to some point where it is concentrated in one member and resists the slayer with convulsive movements and fierce anger until, like a fire, it is completely extinguished and departs.

Beasts never beg or sue for pity or acknowledge defeat: lion is never slave to lion, or horse to horse through cowardice, as man is to man when he unprotestingly accepts the name whose root is cowardice. And when men have subdued beasts by snares and tricks, such of them as are full grown refuse food and endure the pangs of thirst until they induce and embrace death in place of slavery. But nestlings and cubs, which by reason of age are tender and docile, are offered many beguiling allurements and enticements that act as drugs. These give them a taste for unnatural pleasures and modes of life, and in time make them spiritless to the point where they accept and submit to their so‑called "taming," which is really an emasculation of their fighting spirit.

These facts make it perfectly obvious that bravery is an innate characteristic of beasts, while in human beings an independent spirit is actually contrary to nature. The point that best proves this, gentle Odysseus, is the fact that in beasts valour is naturally equal in both sexes and the female is in no way inferior to the male. She takes her part both in the struggle for existence and in the defence of her brood. You have heard, I suppose, of the sow of Crommyon which, though a female beast, caused so much trouble to Theseus. That famous Sphinx would have got no good of her wisdom as she sat on the heights of Mt. Phicium, weaving her riddles and puzzles, if she had not continued to surpass the Thebans greatly in power and courage. Somewhere thereabouts lived also the Teumesian vixen, a "thing atrocious"; and not far away, they say, was the Pythoness who fought with Apollo for the oracle at Delphi. Your king received Aethe from the Sicyusn as a recompense for excusing him from military service, making a very wise choice when he preferred a fine, spirited mare to a cowardly man. You yourself have often observed in panthers and lionesses that the female in no way yields to the male in spirit and valour. Yet, while you are off at the wars, your wife sits at home by the fire and troubles herself not so much as a swallow to ward off those who come against herself and her home — and this though she is a Spartan born and bred. So why should I go on to mention Carian or Maeonian women? Surely from what has been said it is perfectly obvious that men have no natural claim to courage; if they did, women would have just as great a portion of valour. It follows that your practice of courage is brought about by legal compulsion, which is neither voluntary nor intentional, but in subservience to custom and censure and moulded by extraneous beliefs and arguments. When you face toils and dangers, you do so not because you are courageous, but because you are more afraid of some alternative. For just as that one of your companions who is the first to board ship stands up to the light oar, not because he thinks nothing of it, but because he fears and shuns the heavier one; just so he who accepts the lash to escape the sword, or meets a foe in battle rather than be tortured or killed, does so not from courage to face the one situation, but from fear of the other. So it is clear that all your courage is merely the cowardice of prudence and all your valour merely fear that has the good sense to escape one course by taking another. And, to sum up, if you think that you are better in courage than beasts, why do your poets call the doughtiest fighters "wolf-minded" and "lion-hearted" and "like a boar in valour," though no poet ever called a lion "man-hearted" or a boar "like a man in valour"? But, I imagine, just as when those who are swift are called "wind-footed" and those who are handsome are called "godlike," there is exaggeration in the imagery; just so the poets bring in a higher ideal when they compare mighty warriors to something else. And the reason is that the spirit of anger is, as it were, the tempering or the cutting edge of courage. Now beasts use this undiluted in their contests, whereas you men have it mixed with calculation, as wine with water, so that it is displaced in the presence of danger and fails you when you need it most. Some of you even declare that anger should not enter at all into fighting, but be dismissed in order to make use of sober calculation; their contention is correct so far as self-preservation goes, but is disgracefully false as regards valorous defence. For surely it is absurd for you to find fault with Nature because she did not equip your bodies with natural stings, or place fighting tusks among your teeth, or give you nails like curved claws, while you yourselves remove or curb the emotional instrument that Nature has given.

Conclusion

ODYSSEUS. So now, Gryllus, you are transformed. Do you attribute reason even to the sheep and the ass?

GRYLLUS. From even these, dearest Odysseus, it is perfectly possible to gather that animals have a natural endowment of reason and intellect. For just as one tree is not more nor less inanimate than another, but they are all in the same state of insensibility, since none is endowed with soul, in the same way one animal would not be thought to be more sluggish or indocile mentally than another if they did not all possess reason and intellect to some degree — though some have a greater or less proportion than others. Please note that cases of dullness and stupidity in some animals are demonstrated by the cleverness and sharpness of others — as when you compare an ass and a sheep with a fox or a wolf or a bee. It is like comparing Polyphemus to you or that dunce Coroebus to your grandfather Autolycus. I scarcely believe that there is such a spread between one animal and another as there is between man and man in the matter of judgement and reasoning and memory.

ODYSSEUS. But consider, Gryllus: it is not a fearful piece of violence to grant reason to creatures that have no inherent knowledge of God?

GRYLLUS. Then shall we deny, Odysseus, that so wise and remarkable a man as you had Sisyphus for a father?

Full text from [2]

BEASTS ARE RATIONAL


(The speakers in the dialogue are Odysseus, Circe, and Gryllus.)

1. opyssEus. These facts,% Circe, I believe I have learned and shall not forget them ; yet I should be happy to learn from you further whether there are any Greeks among those whom you have changed from the shape of men into wolves and lions.

cIRCE. Quite a few, beloved Odysseus. But what is your reason for asking this question ἢ

opyssEus. It is, 1 swear, because it would bring me noble glory among the Greeks if by your favour I should restore comrades of mine to their original humanity and not allow them to grow old in the unnatural guise of beasts, leading an existence that is so piteous and shameful.

circE. Here’s a lad who finds it appropriate that not only himself and his companions, but even total strangers should, through his stupidity, find his am- bition their ruin.

opysseus. This is a new potion ὃ of words that you are stirring and drugging for me, Circe. It will cer-


¢ For the beginning cf. Horace, Sat. ii. 5. 1: ‘* Haec quoque, Teresia, praeter narrata .. .,” a form which is assumed to go back to Menippus. ὃ By which she transformed men into beasts: Odyssey, x. 236.


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χνῶς ποιοῦσα θηρίον, εἰ πείσομαΐ σοι ws συμφορά ἐστιν ἄνθρωπον ἐκ θηρίου γενέσθαι.

Kip. Οὐ γὰρ ἤδη τούτων ἀτοπώτερα πεποίηκας σεαυτόν, ὃς τὸν ἀθάνατον καὶ ἀγήρω σὺν ἐμοὶ / > \ + ee. - « > > / βίον ἀφεὶς ἐπὶ γυναῖκα θνητήν, ws δ᾽ ἐγώ φημι, καὶ γραῦν ἤδη διὰ μυρίων ἔτι κακῶν σπεύδεις, ὡς δὴ" περίβλεπτος ἐκ τούτου καὶ ὀνομαστὸς ἔτι αλλ Ἃ ~ / 3 \ > Ad \ [ὃ μᾶλλον ἢ νῦν γενόμενος," κενὸν ἀγαθὸν καὶ εἴδωλον ἀντὶ τῆς ἀληθείας διώκων ;

> / ~ « / Ἂν “fat / \

oa. “Eyérw ταῦτα ws λέγεις, ὦ Κίρκη: τί yap δεῖ πολλάκις ζυγομαχεῖν ἡμᾶς περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν; τούτους δέ μοι δὸς ἀναλύσασα καὶ χάρισαι τοὺς ἄνδρας.

᾽ “ > « ~ A \ ¢ VA >

Kip. Οὐχ οὕτω γ᾽ ἁπλῶς, μὰ τὴν “Exatny: οὐ γὰρ οἱ τυχόντες εἰσίν: ἀλλ᾽ ἐροῦ πρῶτον αὐτούς, >’ / nv Ἁ \ ~ / > A εἰ θέλουσιν: av δὲ μὴ φῶσι, διαλεχθείς, ὦ γενναῖε,

A \ πεῖσον: ἐὰν δὲ μὴ melons, ἀλλὰ Kal περιγένωνται διαλεγόμενοι, ἱκανὸν ἔστω σοι περὶ σεαυτοῦ καὶ ~ / ~ ~ τῶν φίλων κακῶς βεβουλεῦσθαι.

oa. Τώμου καταγελᾷς, ὦ μακαρία; πῶς γὰρ n 1” Ξ - , ” ,ὕ “ ” \ dv ἢ δοῖεν οὗτοι λόγον ἢ λάβοιεν, ἕως ὄνοι Kal σύες καὶ λέοντές εἰσι;

/ / > > / > /

κιρ. Θάρρει, φιλοτιμότατ᾽ ἀνθρώπων: ἐγώ σοι παρέξω καὶ συνιέντας αὐτοὺς καὶ διαλεγομένους" μᾶλλον δ᾽ εἷς ἱκανὸς ἔσται καὶ διδοὺς καὶ λαμβά- νων ὑπὲρ πάντων λόγον" ἰδού, τούτῳ διαλέγου.

1 ἐστιν) γ᾽ ἐστιν ὃ


2 δὴ] ἂν Bernardakis. 3 γενόμενος] γενησόμενος Hartman.



α Hecate, goddess of black magic, who was invoked for


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tainly transform me literally into a beast if I am to take your word for it that changing from beast to man spells ruin.

circE. Haven't you already worked a stranger magic than this on yourself? You who refused an ageless, immortal life at my side and would struggle through a thousand new dangers to a woman who is mortal and, I can assure you, no longer so very young—and this for no object other than to make yourself more gaped at and renowned than you already are, pursuing an empty phantom instead of what is truly good.

opyssEus. All right, let it be as you say, Circe. Why must we quarrel again and again about the same matters ? Now please just grant me the favour of letting the men go free.

circe. By the Black Goddess,’ it’s not so simple as that. These creatures are no run of the mill. You must ask them first if they are willing. If they say no, my hero, you'll have to argue with them and convince them. And if you don’t, and they win the argument, then you must be content with having exercised poor judgement about yourself and your friends.

opyssgus. Dear lady, why are you making fun of me? How can they argue with me or 1 with them so long as they are asses and hogs and lions ?

circE. Courage, courage, my ambitious friend. I’ll see to it that you shall find them both receptive and responsive. Or rather, one of the number will be enough to thrust and parry for them all. Presto ! You may talk with this one.


such functions at least from the time of Euripides’ Medea (394 ff.).


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\ / ~ εὖ / / oA. Kai τίνα τοῦτον, ὦ Κύώρκη, προσαγορεύ- σομεν; ἢ τίς ἦν οὗτος ἀνθρώπων ; / \ ~ \ \ / > A / Kip. Τί yap τοῦτο πρὸς τὸν Adyov; ἀλλὰ κάλει , / > / / > \ > > y αὐτόν, εἰ βούλει, ρύλλον. ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἐκστήσομαι ὑμῖν, μὴ καὶ παρὰ γνώμην ἐμοὶ δοκῇ χαριζόμενος διαλέγεσθαι. 2. ΤΡΥ͂ΛΛΟΣ. Χαῖρε, ᾿Οδυσσεῦ. oa. Καὶ σὺ νὴ Δία, [Γρύλλε. rp. Τί βούλει ἐρωτᾶν ; > \ / ἀρ Je = > / oA. ᾿Εγὼ γινώσκων' ὑμᾶς ἀνθρώπους yeyo- νότας οἰκτείρω μὲν ἅπαντας οὕτως ἔχοντας, εἰκὸς δέ μοι μᾶλλον διαφέρειν ὅσοι “EAAnves ὄντες εἰς ταύτην ἀφῖχθε τὴν δυστυχίαν: νῦν οὖν ἐποιησάμην τῆς Κίρκης δέησιν ὅπως τὸν βουλόμενον ὑμῶν ἀναλύσασα καὶ καταστήσασα πάλιν εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον εἶδος ἀποπέμψῃ μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν. ~ > ~ \ / \ rp. Ilate, ᾿Οδυσσεῦ, καὶ περαιτέρω μηδὲν εἴπῃς" ὡς καὶ σοῦ πάντες ἡμεῖς καταφρονοῦμεν, ὡς μάτην ἄρα δεινὸς ἐλέγου καὶ τῷ φρονεῖν πολὺ ~ Μ > 7 >] / / “ b) \ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων ἐδόκεις διαφέρειν, ὃς αὐτὸ τοῦτ᾽ ἔδεισας, τὴν μεταβολὴν ἐκ χειρόνων εἰς ἀμείνω, μὴ σκεψάμενος: ὡς γὰρ" οἱ παῖδες τὰ φάρμακα τῶν ἰατρῶν φοβοῦνται, καὶ τὰ μαθήματα" ~ ν᾽ φεύγουσιν, ἃ μεταβάλλοντα ἐκ νοσερῶν καὶ ἀνοή- των ὑγιεινοτέρους καὶ φρονιμωτέρους ποιοῦσιν > / “ \ /, \ Μ ,’ Μ αὐτούς, οὕτω σὺ διεκρούσω τὸ ἄλλος ἐξ ἄλλου γενέσθαι, καὶ νῦν αὐτός τε φρίττων καὶ ὑποδει-


1 γινώσκων Jannotius : γινώσκω. 2 ὡς γὰρ Wyttenbach : ὥσπερ. 3 μαθήματα Stephanus: παθήματα.


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opysseus. And how am I to address him, Circe ἢ Who in the world was he ἢ ἃ

circE. What’s that to do with the issue? Call him Gryllus,? if you like. I'll retire now to avoid any suggestion that he is arguing against his own con- victions to curry favour with me.

2. aryLLus. Hello, Odysseus.

opyssEus. And you too, Gryllus, for heaven’s sake !

GRYLLUS. What do you want to ask ὃ

opyssEus. Since I am aware that you have been men, I feel sorry for all of you in your present plight ; yet it is only natural that I should be more concerned for those of you who were Greeks before you fell into this misfortune. So now I have asked Circe to remove the spell from any Greek who chooses and restore him to his original shape and let him go back home with us.

GRYLLUs. Stop, Odysseus! Not a word more ! You see, we don’t any of us think much of you either, for evidently it was a farce, that talk of your clever- ness and your fame as one whose intelligence far surpassed the rest—a man who boggles at the simple matter of changing from worse to better because he hasn’t considered the matter. For just as children dread the doctor’s doses ὁ and run from lessons, the very things that, by changing them from invalids and fools, will make them healthier and wiser, just so you have shied away from the change from one shape to another. At this very moment you are not only living in fear and trembling as a companion of

2 After the Homeric formula, e¢.g., Odyssey, x. 325.

> ** Grunter,”’ ‘* swine.”’

¢ Cf. Lucretius, iv. 11 ff.; Plato, Laws 720 a. If one


takes Laws, 646 c literally, there was some reason for fear.


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(9 86) μαίνων τῇ Κίρκῃ σύνει, * μή ΝΜ ποιήσῃ λαθοῦσα σῦν ἢ λύκον, ἡμᾶς τε πείθεις, ἐν ἀφθόνοις ζῶντας ἀγαθοῖς, ἀπολιπόντας ἁ ἅμα τούτοις τὴν ταῦτα παρα-

E σκευάζουσαν ἐκπλεῖν μετὰ σοῦ, τὸ πάντων βάρυ-

ποτμότατον" ζῷον αὖθις ἀνθρώπους γενομένους.

oa. ᾿Εμοὶ σύ, Γρύλλε, δοκεῖς οὐ τὴν μορφὴν μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν ὑπὸ τοῦ πόματος ἐκείνου διεφθάρθαι καὶ γεγονέναι μεστὸς. ἀτόπων καὶ διαλελωβημένων παντάπασι δοξῶν" ἢ σέ τις αὖ" συηνίας' ἡδονὴ πρὸς τόδε τὸ σῶμα καταγε- γοήτευκεν ;

re. Οὐδέτερα τούτων, ὦ βασιλεῦ Κεφαλλήνων: ἂν δὲ διαλέγεσθαι μᾶλλον ἐθέλῃς 7) λοιδορεῖσθαι, ταχύ σε μεταπείσομεν, ἑκατέρου τῶν βίων ἐμπεί- ρως ἔχοντες, ὅτι ταῦτα πρὸ ἐκείνων εἰκότως ἀγα- πῶμεν.

οδ. ᾿Αλλὰ μὴν ἐγὼ πρόθυμος" ἀκροᾶσθαι.

Fyre Kat ἡμεῖς τοίνυν λέγειν. ἀρκτέον δὲ

πρῶτον ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρετῶν, ἐφ᾽ αἷς ὁρῶμεν ὑμᾶς μέγα φρονοῦντας, ὡς τῶν θηρίων πολὺ καὶ δικαιο- σύνῃ καὶ φρονήσει καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἀρεταῖς διαφέροντας. ἀπόκριναι δή μοι, σοφώτατ᾽ ἀνδρῶν: ἤκουσα γάρ σου ποτὲ διηγουμένου τῇ Κίρκῃ περὶ τῆς τῶν Κυκλώπων γῆς, ὡς οὔτ᾽ ἀρου- μένη τὸ παράπαν, οὔτε τινὸς εἰς αὐτὴν φυτεύοντος οὐδέν, οὕτως ἐστὶν ἀγαθὴ καὶ γενναία τὴν φύσιν,


1 σύνει Reiske: συνεῖναι.

2 βαρυποτμότατον Reiske: φιλοποτμότατον (φιλοτυφότατον καὶ δυσποτμότατον Post, ‘‘ the vanity-loving ἃπα ill-fated animal beyond all others as

3 αὖ] dpa Post ; Hartman deletes. 4 ounvias Hartman : συνηθείας. 5 πρόθυμος Reiske: πρὸς ὑμᾶς (ἔχω προθύμως Valckenaer).


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Circe, frightened that she may, before you know it, turn you into a pig or a wolf, but you are also trying to persuade us, who live in an abundance of good things, to abandon them, and with them the lady who provides them, and sail away with you, when we have again become men, the most unfortunate of all creatures !

opyssEus. To me, Gryllus, you seem to have lost not only your shape, but your intelligence also under the influence of that drug. You have become in- fected with strange and completely perverted no- tions. Or was it rather an inclination to swinishness that conjured you into this shape ? 7

GRyLLus. Neither of these, king of the Cephallenians.? But if it is your pleasure to discuss the matter instead of hurling abuse, I shall quickly make you see that we are right to prefer our present life in place of the former one, now that we have tried both.

opyssEus. Goon. I should like to hear you.

3. eryLLtus. And I, in that case, to instruct you. Let us begin with the virtues, which, we note, inspire you with pride ; for you rate yourselves as far superior to animals © in justice and wisdom and courage and all the rest of them. But answer me this, wisest of men! Once I heard you telling Circe about the land of the Cyclopes,? that though it is not ploughed at all nor does anyone sow there, yet it is naturally so fertile and fecund that it produces spontaneously


¢ That is, you were always a swine. It is only your shape that is altered.

>’ After Homer, /liad, ii. 631; Odyssey, xxiv. 378; or, taking the pun, “ King of Brains,” ‘‘ Mastermind.”

¢ Cf. 962 a supra; on the virtues of animals see Aristotle, Historia Animal. i. 1 (488 f. 12 ff.); Plato, Laches, 196 £; al.

4 Homer, Odyssey, ix. 108 ff.

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ὥσθ᾽ ἅπαντας ἐκφέρειν τοὺς καρποὺς ἀφ᾽ αὑτῆς" πότερον οὖν ταύτην ἐπαινεῖς μᾶλλον "ἦι: τὴν αἰγί- βοτον ᾿Ιθάκην καὶ ᾿τραχεῖαν, 1) μόλις ἀπ’ ἔργων τε πολλῶν καὶ διὰ πόνων μεγάλων μικρὰ καὶ γλίσχρα καὶ μηδενὸς ἄξια τοῖς γεωργοῦσιν ἀναδίδωσι; καὶ ὅπως οὐ χαλεπῶς οἴσεις, παρὰ τὸ φαινόμενον εὐνοίᾳ τῆς πατρίδος ἀποκρινόμενος.

oa. ᾿Αλλ᾽ οὐ δεῖ ψεύδεσθαι: φιλῶ μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἀσπάζομαι τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ πατρίδα καὶ χώραν μᾶλλον, ἐπαινῶ δὲ καὶ θαυμάζω τὴν ἐκείνων.

re. Οὐκοῦν τοῦτο μὲν οὕτως ἔχειν φήσομεν, ὡς ὁ φρονιμώτατος ἀνθρώπων ἄλλα μὲν οἴεται δεῖν ἐπαινεῖν καὶ δοκιμάζειν ἄλλα δ᾽ αἱρεῖσθαι καὶ ἀγα- πᾶν, ἐκεῖνο δ᾽ οἶμαί σε καὶ περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπο- κεκρίσθαι. ταὐτὸν γάρ ἐστι τῷ περὶ τῆς χώρας, ὡς ἀμείνων ἥτις ἄνευ πόνου τὴν ἀρετὴν ὥσπερ αὐτο- φυῆ καρπὸν ἀναδίδωσιν.

oa. "“Eotw σοι καὶ τοῦθ᾽ οὕτως.

re. "Hd 8° ody" ὁμολογεῖς τὴν τῶν θηρίων ψυχὴν εὐφυεστέραν εἶναι πρὸς γένεσιν ἀρετῆς καὶ τελειοτέραν" ἀνεπίτακτος γὰρ καὶ ἀδίδακτος ὥσπερ ἄσπορος καὶ ἀνήροτος ἐκφέρει καὶ αὔξει κατὰ φύσιν τὴν ἑκάστῳ προσήκουσαν ἀρετήν.

oa. Καὶ τίνος ποτ᾽ ἀρετῆς, ὦ ΤΓρύλλε, μέτεστι τοῖς θηρίοις ;

4, ΤΡ. Τίνος μὲν οὖν οὐχὶ μᾶλλον 1 7) τῷ σοφω- τάτῳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων; σκόπει δὲ πρῶτον, εἰ βούλει, τὴν ἀνδρείαν, ἐφ᾽ 7) σὺ φρονεῖς μέγα καὶ οὐκ ἐγκα- λύπτῃ “᾿ θρασὺς ᾿᾿ καὶ “᾿ πτολίπορθος ᾿᾿ ἀποκαλού-


1 δ᾽ οὖν Benseler: οὖν.



α Odyssey, xiii. 242 ff. ; cf. iv. 606. 500


BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 986-987


every kind of crops. Do you, then, rate this land higher than rugged, goat-pasturing Ithaca,* which barely yields the tiller a meagre, churlish, trifling crop after great efforts and much toil? And see that you don’t lose your temper and give me a patriotic answer that isn’t what you really believe.

opyssEus. I have no need to lie; for though I love and cherish my native soil more, the other wins my approval and admiration.

Grytius. Then this, we shall say, is the situation : the wisest of men thinks fit to commend and approve one thing while he loves and prefers another. Now I assume that your answer applies to the spiritual field also, for the situation is the same as with the land ὃ : ee spiritual soil is better which produces a harvest of virtue as a spontaneous crop without toil.

opyssEus. Yes, this too you may assume.

GRYLLUs. At this moment, then, you are conceding the point that the soul of beasts has a greater Hapa capacity and perfection for the generation of virtue ; for without command or instruction, “ unsown and unploughed,” as it were, it naturally brings forth and develops such virtue as is proper in each case.

opyssEus. And what sort of virtue, Gryllus, is ever found in beasts ?

4. Grytius. Ask rather what sort of virtue is not found in them more than in the wisest of men? Take first, if you please, courage, in which you take great pride, not even pretending to blush when you are called “valiant” and “sacker of cities." Yet you,

ὃ The principle ubi bene, ibi patria: Pacuvius, frag. 380 (Warmington, Remains of Old Latin, ii, p. 303): Aristo- phanes, Plutus, 1151; Cicero, Tusc. Disp. v. 37, 108; Appian, B.C. ii. 8. 50

© Thad, ti. 918:

501


(987)


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


μενος, ὅστις, ὦ σχετλιώτατε, δόλοις καὶ μηχαναῖς ἀνθρώπους ἁπλοῦν καὶ γενναῖον εἰδότας πολέμου τρόπον ἀπάτης δὲ καὶ ψευδῶν ἀπείρους παρακρου- » ~ ~ > ~ σάμενος, ὄνομα TH πανουργίᾳ προστίθης τῆς ἀρετῆς τῆς ἥκιστα πανουργίαν προσιεμένης. ἀλλὰ τῶν γε θηρίων τοὺς πρὸς ἄλληλα καὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἀγῶ- νας ὁρᾷς ὡς ἄδολοι καὶ ἄτεχνοι καὶ μετ᾽ ἐμφα- νοῦς γυμνοῦ τε τοῦ θαρρεῖν πρὸς ἀληθινῆς ἀλκῆς ~ / ~ ποιοῦνται τὰς ἀμύνας: Kal οὔτε νόμου καλοῦντος / οὔτ᾽ ἀστρατείας δεδοικότα γραφὴν ἀλλὰ φύσει φεύ- γοντα τὸ κρατεῖσθαι μέχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων ἐγκαρτε- pet καὶ διαφυλάττει τὸ ἀήττητον" οὐ γὰρ ἡττᾶται κρατούμενα τοῖς σώμασιν οὐδ᾽ ἀπαγορεύει ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἀλλὰ ταῖς μάχαις ἐναποθνήσκει. πολλῶν δὲ θνῃσκόντων ἡ ἀλκὴ μετὰ τοῦ θυμοειδοῦς ἀπο- χωρήσασά mov καὶ συναθροισθεῖσα περὶ ἕν τι τοῦ σώματος μόριον ἀνθίσταται τῷ κτείνοντι καὶ πηδᾷ A " v ~ > ~ καὶ ἀγανακτεῖ," μέχρις ἂν ὥσπερ πῦρ ἐγκατασβεσθῇ παντάπασι καὶ ἀπόληται.

/ > ’ ” 90» ” / 0.» Δέησις δ᾽ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδ᾽ οἴκτου παραίτησις οὐδ > / σ 5 \ / / / \ ἐξομολόγησις ἥττης, οὐδὲ δουλεύει λέων λέοντι Kat

“ ν > > / 4 σ Μ > ἵππος ἵππῳ Ov ἀνανδρίαν, ὥσπερ ἄνθρωπος av- θρώπῳ, τὴν τῆς δειλίας ἐπώνυμον εὐκόλως ἐν-

/ “ > » / ” / ασπαζόμενος. ὅσα δ᾽ ἄνθρωποι πάγαις ἢ δόλοις > 7, \ \ ” ͵, = \ > , ἐχειρώσαντο, Ta μὲν ἤδη τέλεια τροφὴν ἀπωσά- μενα καὶ πρὸς δίψαν ἐγκαρτερήσαντα τὸν πρὸ δου- 1 τῆς added by W. C. H. after Hartman. 2 ποι Bernardakis: που.


3 ἀγανακτεῖ] ἀναζεῖ Kronenberg.


4 ἀνανδρίαν Meziriacus: ἀνδρείαν.


502


BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 987


you villain, are the man who by tricks and frauds have led astray men who knew only a straightforward, noble style of war and were unversed in deceit and lies ; while on your freedom from scruple you confer the name of the virtue that is least compatible with such nefariousness. Wild beasts, however, you will observe, are guileless and artless in their struggles, whether against one another or against you, and conduct their battles with unmistakably naked courage under the impulse of genuine valour. No edict summons them, nor do they fear a writ of desertion. No, it is their nature to flee subjection ; with a stout heart they maintain an indomitable spirit to the very end. Nor are they conquered even when physically overpowered; they never give up in their hearts, even while perishing in the fray. In many cases, when beasts are dying, their valour withdraws together with the fighting spirit to some point where it is concentrated in one member and resists the slayer with convulsive movements and fierce anger ® until, like a fire, it is completely ex- tinguished and departs.

Beasts never beg or sue for pity or acknowledge defeat : lion is never slave to lion, or horse to horse through cowardice, as man is to man when he unprotestingly accepts the name whose root is cowardice.2. And when men have subdued beasts by snares and tricks, such of them as are full grown refuse food and endure the pangs of thirst until they


2 Like eels or snakes whose tails continue to twitch long


after they are dead. > ** Slavery ᾿ (douleia) as though derived from


dice ’’ (deilia).



  • cowar-


5 τέλεια Hartman: τέλεια καὶ.


503


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


/ > / 1 \ > ~ / “- \

(987) λείας ἐπάγεται' Kai ἀγαπᾷ θάνατον" νεοσσοῖς δὲ καὶ σκύμνοις τούτων, OL ἡλικίαν εὐαγώγοις καὶ ἅπα-

λοῖς οὖσιν, πολλὰ καὶ ἀπατηλὰ μειλίγματα καὶ ὑποπεττεύματαΣ" προσφέροντες καὶ καταφαρμάτ- τοντες, ἡδονῶν παρὰ φύσιν γευόμενα καὶ διαίτης ἀδρανῆ χρόνῳ κατειργάσαντο, ἕως" προσεδέξαντο

καὶ ὑπέμειναν τὴν καλουμένην ἐξημέρωσιν ὥσπερ

F ἀπογυναίκωσιν τοῦ θυμοειδοῦς.

Οἷς δὴ“ μάλιστα δῆλον ὅτι τὰ θηρία πρὸς τὸ θαρρεῖν εὖ πέφυκε. τοῖς δ᾽ ἀνθρώποις ἡ ἡ παρρησία" καὶ παρὰ φύσιν ἐστίν: ἐκεῖθεν δ᾽ ἄν, ὦ βέλτιστ᾽ > ~ / / >? \ ~ / Οδυσσεῦ, μάλιστα καταμάθοις" ἐν yap Tots θηρίοις ἰσορροπεῖ πρὸς ἀλκὴν ἡ φύσις καὶ τὸ θῆλυ τοῦ ἄρρενος οὐδὲν ἀποδεῖ πονεῖν τε τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις πόνους ἀγωνίζεσθαί τε τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῶν τέκνων ἀγῶνας. ἀλλά που" ΚΚρομμυωνίαν τινὰ σῦν ἀκούεις, ἣ πράγματα πολλά, θῆλυ θηρίον οὖσα,

988 τῷ Θησεῖ παρέσχε" καὶ TH Σφίγγα ἐκείνην οὐκ ἂν ὥνησεν ἡ σοφία περὶ τὸ Φίκιον ἄνω καθεζο- μένην, αἰνίγματα καὶ γρίφους πλέκουσαν, εἰ μὴ ῥώμῃ καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ πολὺ τῶν Καδμείων ἐπεκράτει. ἐκεῖ δέ που καὶ Tevpnotav® ἀλώπεκα “᾿ μέρμερον

~ ”) \ / Μ ἡ: / \ “ χρῆμα ᾿᾿ καὶ πλησίον ὄφιν τῷ ᾿Απόλλωνι περὶ τοῦ

1 ἐπάγεται) ἀσπάζεται Bernardakis.

ὑποπεττεύματα] ὑποπέμματα Meziriacus.

3 ἕως Wyttenbach (who put it earlier): καὶ. ols δὴ] τοῖσδε δὴ ἢ “᾿ Now the following facts .. . 5 παρρησία] εὐθάρσεια Emperius.

8 zou W. C. H.: xat.

7 ἀκούεις] ἀκήκοας ?

8 'ευμησίαν] most Mss. have τελμησίαν.


9 “


1


499


α They also refuse to breed in captivity: Pliny, Nat. Hist. x. 182: al.


504


BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 987-988


induce and embrace death in place of slavery.* But nestlings and cubs, which by reason of age are tender and docile, are offered many beguiling allurements and enticements that act as drugs. These give them a taste for unnatural pleasures and modes of life, and in time make them spiritless to the point where they accept and submit to their so-called “ taming,” which is really an emasculation of their fighting spirit.

These facts make it perfectly obvious that bravery is an innate characteristic of beasts, while in human beings an independent spirit is actually contrary to nature. The point that best proves this, gentle Odysseus, is the fact that in beasts valour is naturally equal in both sexes” and the female is in no way inferior to the male. She takes her part both in the struggle for existence and in the defence of her brood. ° You have heard, I suppose, of the sow of Crommyon 4 which, though a female beast, caused so much trouble to Theseus. That famous Sphinx’ would have got no good of her wisdom as she sat on the heights of Mt. Phicium, weaving her riddles and puzzles, if she had not continued to surpass the Thebans greatly in power and courage. Somewhere thereabouts lived also the Teumesian’ vixen, a “thing atrocious’’ 9; and not far away, they say, was the Pythoness who

® Cf. the Cynic doctrine in Diogenes Laertius, vi. 12: virtue is the same for women as for men.

¢ Cf. Plato, Laws, 814 B.

4 Cf. Life of Theseus, 9 (4 p-£), which gives a rationalizing version of the story and converts the sow Phaea into a female bandit of the same name. See also Frazer on Apollodorus, Epitome i. 1 (L.C.L., vol. ii, p. 129); Plato, Laches, 196 x.

e Cf. Frazer on Apollodorus, Library, iii. 5. 8 (L.C.L., vol. i, p. 347).

  • Cf. Frazer on Pausanias, ix. 19. 1.

9 Presumably a quotation which has not been identified.


505


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


(988) δ Mi μονομαχοῦσαν ἐν Δελφοῖς γενέσθαι λέ- γουσι. τὴν δ᾽ Αἴθην ὁ βασιλεὺς ὑμῶν ἔλαβε παρὰ τοῦ Εἰνιύνίόν μισθὸν ἀστρατείας, ἄριστα βουλευ- σάμενος ὃς δειλοῦ προυτίμησεν ἀνδρὸς ἵππον ἀγα-

\ \ / >? \ \ \ / \ θὴν καὶ φιλόνικον. αὐτὸς δὲ Kat παρδάλεις καὶ / / cry e > / \ ’ὔ λεαίνας πολλάκις ἑώρακας, ὡς οὐδέν τι τὰ θήλεα A Μ « / ~ \ > ~ σ΄ 1 «  Β τοῖς ἄρρεσιν ὑφίεται θυμοῦ καὶ ἀλκῆς" ὥσπερ' ἡ σὴ γυνή, σοῦ πολεμοῦντος, οἴκοι κάθηται πρὸς > , ἊΣ , > ἊΝ 2999 ΟΣ ¢ / ἐσχάρᾳ" πυρός, οὐκ av οὐδ᾽ ὅσον αἱ χελιδόνες > Ἢ / \ ea | > \ \ \ = / ἀμυνομένη τοὺς ἐπ᾽ αὐτὴν καὶ τὸν οἶκον Badilov- τας, καὶ ταῦτα Λάκαινα οὖσα. τί οὖν ἔτι σοι λέγω \ / ἋἋ / > > > 4 ~ τὰς Kapivas ἢ Matovidas ; ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τούτων ye δῆ- λόν ἐστιν, ὅτι τοῖς ἀνδράσιν οὐ φύσει μέτεστι τῆς ἀνδρείας: μετῆν γὰρ ἂν ὁμοίως καὶ ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἀλκῆς. ὥσθ᾽ ὑμεῖς, κατὰ νόμων ἀνάγκην οὐχ ς 4 ᾽ \ / > \ / ” ἑκούσιον οὐδὲ βουλομένην ἀλλὰ δουλεύουσαν ἔθεσι \ / \ / > 7 \ / καὶ ψόγοις καὶ δόξαις ἐπήλυσι Kai λόγοις πλαττο- ( μένην, μελετᾶτε ἀνδρείαν: καὶ τοὺς πόνους ὑφίστα- σθε καὶ τοὺς κινδύνους, οὐ πρὸς ταῦτα θαρροῦντες > \ ~ 7 ~ / / a ἀλλὰ τῷ ἕτερα μᾶλλον τούτων δεδιέναι. ὥσπερ οὖν τῶν σῶν ἑταίρων ὁ φθάσας πρῶτος ἐπὶ τὴν ἐλαφρὰν ἀνίσταται κώπην, οὐ καταφρονῶν ἐκείνης > \ \ \ / \ / “ «  ἀλλὰ δεδιὼς καὶ φεύγων τὴν βαρυτέραν: οὕτως ὁ 1 ὥσπερ) ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὥσπερ Post, which may well be right. 2 πρὸς ἐσχάρᾳ van Herwerden: πρὸς ἐσχάραν.


@ Cf. Mor. 293 c, 491 c; Frazer on Apollodorus, i. 4. 1 (L. C.L,.,'vol/i,.p. 2%: » Agamemnon (lliad, xxiii. 295-299). ¢ A racing mare. 4 Echepolus. ¢ As a daughter of Icarius, the brother of Tyndareiis, she was a first cousin of Helen.


506


BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 988


fought with Apollo for the oracle at Delphi.* Your king ὃ received Aethe ° from the Sicyonian? as a recompense for excusing him from military service, making a very wise choice when he preferred a fine, spirited mare to a cowardly man. You yourself have often observed in panthers and lionesses that the female in no way yields to the male in spirit and valour. Yet, while you are off at the wars, your wife sits at home by the fire and troubles herself not so much as a swallow to ward off those who come against herself and her home—and this though she is a Spartan born and bred.* So why should I go on to mention Carian or Maeonian women?’ Surely from what has been said it is perfectly obvious that men have no natural claim to courage %; if they did, women would have just as great a portion of valour. It follows that your practice of courage is brought about by legal compulsion, which is neither voluntary nor intentional, but in subservience to custom and censure and moulded by extraneous beliefs and argu- ments.” When you face toils and dangers, you do so not because you are courageous, but because you are more afraid of some alternative.*. For just as that one of your companions who is the first to board ship stands up to the light oar, not because he thinks nothing of it, but because he fears and shuns the heavier one’; just so he who accepts the lash to


7 Extreme examples of female lassitude, when even the Spartan Penelope is hopeless by Gryllus’ high standards.

9 Cf. Epicurus, frag. 517 (Usener).

n Cf. Aelian, De Natura Animal. vi. 1.

Cf. Lucan, vii. 104 f.: “;Multos in'summa pericula misit |

venturi timor ipse mali.”

7 He chooses the light oar, not because it is a mere nothing to work, but because he dreads the heavier one.


507


(988)


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


πληγὴν ὑπομένων, ἵνα μὴ λάβῃ τραύματα, καὶ πρὸ αἰκίας τινὸς ἢ θανάτου πολέμιόν τιν᾽ ἀμυνόμενος" οὐ πρὸς ταῦτα θαρραλέος ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἐκεῖνα δειλός ἐστιν. οὕτω δ᾽ ἀναφαίνεται" ὑμῖν ἡ μὲν ἀνδρεία δειλία φρόνιμος οὖσα, τὸ δὲ θάρσος φόβος ἐπιστή- μην ἔχων τοῦ δι᾿ ἑτέρων ἕτερα φεύγειν. ὅλως δέ, εἰ πρὸς ἀνδρείαν οἴεσθε βελτίους εἶναι τῶν θηρίων, τί ποθ᾽ ὑμῶν οἱ ποιηταὶ τοὺς κράτιστα τοῖς {{ »» ᾽) toed bf πολεμίοις μαχομένους λυκόφρονας ᾿᾿ καὶ “᾿ θυμο- / λέοντας ᾿᾿ καὶ “ out εἰκέλους ἀλκὴν ᾿᾿ προσαγορεύ- ουσιν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ λέοντά τις αὐτῶν “᾿ ἀνθρωπόθυμον, οὐ σῦν “ἀνδρὶ εἴκελον ἀλκὴν ᾿ἠ προσαγορεύει; » "ὦ 5 \ Facile? 7, ” \ GAN ὥσπερ οἶμαι τοὺς ταχεῖς “᾿ ποδηνέμους καὶ \ \ ce ~ ΨΚ τοὺς καλοὺς θεοειδεῖς ὑπερβαλλόμενοι ταῖς εἰ- κόσιν ὀνομάζουσιν, οὕτω τῶν δεινῶν μάχεσθαι πρὸς τὰ κρείττονα ποιοῦνται τὰς ἀφομοιώσεις. αἴτιον / “ ~ \ > / 4. ὔ « / δέ, ὅτι τῆς μὲν ἀνδρείας οἷον βαφή τις ὁ θυμός ἐστι καὶ στόμωμα: τούτῳ δ᾽ ἀκράτῳ τὰ θηρία χρῆται πρὸς τοὺς ἀγῶνας, ὑμῖν δὲ προσμιγνύμε- vos πρὸς τὸν λογισμὸν ὥσπερ οἶνος πρὸς ὕδωρ ἐξ- ίσταται παρὰ τὰ δεινὰ καὶ ἀπολείπει τὸν καιρόν. ἔνιοι δ᾽ ὑμῶν οὐδ᾽ ὅλως φασὶ χρῆναι παραλαμ- 7 > “- / \ \ > > > \ Bavew ἐν ταῖς μάχαις τὸν θυμὸν ἀλλ ἐκποδὼν θεμένους νήφοντι χρῆσθαι τῷ λογισμῷ, πρὸς μὲν σωτηρίας ἀσφάλειαν ὀρθῶς, πρὸς δ᾽ ἀλκὴν καὶ ἄμυναν αἴσχιστα λέγοντες. πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον αἰτιᾶσθαι μὲν ὑμᾶς τὴν φύσιν, ὅτι μὴ κέντρα προσ- 1


τιν᾽ ἀμυνόμενος] ἀνταμυνόμενος Post. ἀναφαίνεται} most Mss. have ἀναφαίνει (ἀνεφάνη Reiske).


ro



a Cf, Plato, Phaedo, 68 pv. > In Homer Gilad: XV. 430) and elsewhere used only as a pro- per name. Plutarch’s source is probably the lost Epic Cycle.


508


BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 988


escape the sword, or meets a foe in battle rather than be tortured or killed, does so not from courage to face the one situation, but from fear of the other. So it is clear that all your courage is merely the cowardice of prudence and all your valour merely fear that has the good sense to escape one course by taking another.* And, to sum up, if you think that you are better in courage than beasts, why do your poets call the doughtiest fighters “ wolf-minded ” ὃ and “ lion- hearted ” ὁ and “ like a boar in valour,” ? though no poet ever called a lion “ man-hearted”’ or a boar “like a manin valour’? But, limagine, just as when those who are swift are called “‘ wind-footed ”’ ὁ and those who are handsome are called “ godlike,’ / there is exaggeration in the imagery; just so the poets bring in a higher ideal when they compare mighty warriors to something else. And the reason is that the spirit of anger is, as it were, the tempering or the cutting edge of courage. Now beasts use this undiluted in their contests, whereas you men have it mixed with calculation, as wine with water, so that it is displaced in the presence of danger and fails you when you need it most. Some of you even declare that anger should not enter at all into fighting, but be dismissed in order to make use of sober calcula- tion 2%; their contention is correct so far as self- preservation goes, but is disgracefully false as regards valorous defence. For surely it is absurd for you to find fault with Nature because she did not equip

¢ Iliad, v. 639 ; vii. 998 ; of Odysseus himself in Odyssey, iv. 724.

4 Tliad, iv. 253.

€ Iliad, ii. 786 and often (of Iris).

7 Iliad, iii. 16 and often.

9 For the calculation of fear see Plato, Laws, 644 Ὁ.


509


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


8) ἔφυσε τοῖς σώμασι μηδ᾽ ἀμυντηρίους ὀδόντας μηδ᾽ ᾿Αγρύλουμὸ ὄνυχας, αὐτοὺς δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ σύμφυτον ἀφαιρεῖν ὅπλον καὶ κολούειν ;

5. oa. Παπαί, ὦ [ρύλλε, δεινός μοι δοκεῖς ye- F yovévat σοφιστής, ὅς γε καὶ νῦν ἐκ τῆς συηνίας φθεγγόμενος οὕτω νεανικῶς πρὸς τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ἐπικεχείρηκας. ἀλλὰ τί οὐ περὶ τῆς σωφροσύνης

ἐφεξῆς διεξῆλθες ; : re. “Ore ᾧμην σε τῶν εἰρημένων πρότερον ἐπι- λήψεσθαι: σὺ δὲ σπεύδεις ἀκοῦσαι τὸ περὶ τῆς σωφροσύνης, ἐπεὶ σωφρονεστάτης μὲν ἀνὴρ εἶ γυναικός, ἀπόδειξιν δὲ σωφροσύνης αὐτὸς οἴει δεδωκέναι, τῶν Κίρκης ἀφροδισίων περιφρονήσας. Kav" τούτῳ μὲν οὐδενὸς τῶν θηρίων διαφέρεις πρὸς ἐγκράτειαν: οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖνα τοῖς κρείττοσιν ἐπι- A / > \ \ \ ¢ \ \ \ 989 θυμεῖ πλησιάζειν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἡδονὰς καὶ τοὺς ἔρωτας πρὸς τὰ ὁμόφυλα ποιεῖται. οὐ θαυμαστὸν

> > > , ¢ 7 > > 7 οὖν ἐστιν, εἰ καθάπερ ὁ Μενδήσιος ev Αἰγύπτῳ τράγος λέγεται πολλαῖς καὶ καλαῖς συνειργνύμενος γυναιξὶν οὐκ εἶναι μίγνυσθαι πρόθυμος ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὰς alyas ἐπτοῆσθαι" μᾶλλον, οὕτω σὺ χαίρων 5 / / ? / Μ Ἅ A ἀφροδισίοις συνήθεσιν οὐ θέλεις ἄνθρωπος ὧν θεᾷ συγκαθεύδειν. τὴν δὲ [[ηνελόπης σωφροσύνην μυρίαι κορῶναι κρώζουσαι γέλωτα θήσονται καὶ καταφρονήσουσιν, ὧν ἑκάστη," ἂν ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἄρρην, 1 κἀν Reiske: καὶ.

  • ἐπτοῆσθαι Wyttenbach : ἐπτόηται.

3 ἑκάστη Wyttenbach: ἑκάστης.


α “ Comparative anatomy teaches us that man resembles frugivorous animals in everything, and carnivorous in no- thing ; he has neither claws wherewith to seize his prey, nor distinct and pointed teeth to tear the living fibre ᾿" (Shelley, A Vindication of Natural Diet ; see the introduction to the


510


BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 988-989


your bodies with natural stings, or place fighting tusks among your teeth, or give you nails like curved claws,? while you yourselves remove or curb the emotional instrument that Nature has given.

5. opyssEus. Bless me, Gryllus, you must once have been a very clever sophist,? one may judge, since even as things are, and speaking from your swinishness, you can attack the subject with such fervent ardour. But why have you failed to discuss temperance, the next in order ?

GRYLLUs. Because I thought that you would first wish to take exception to what I have said. But you are eager to hear about temperance since you are the husband of a model of chastity and believe that you yourself have given a proof of self-control by rejecting the embraces of Circe. And in this you are no more continent than any of the beasts ; for neither do they desire to consort with their betters, but pursue both pleasure and love with mates of like species. So it is no wonder that, like the Mendesian ¢ goat in Egypt which, when shut up with many beautiful women, is said not to be eager to consort with them, but is far more excited about nannies, you likewise are contented with the kind of love that is familiar to you and, being a mortal, are not eager to sleep with a goddess. As for the chastity of Penelope, the cawing of countless crows will pour laughter and contempt upon it; for every crow, if her mate dies, remains a widow, not merely for a


following essay). For some modern remarks cf. Boulenger, Animal Mysteries, p. 196.

δ Gryllus acknowledges the truth of this soft impeachment later on, 989 B infra.

¢ Of. Herodotus, ii. 46; Strabo xvii. 19; and contrast Aelian, De Natura Animal, vii. 19.


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᾽ > / / > >s2 / /, \ > /

(989) οὐκ ὀλίγον χρόνον ἀλλ᾽ ἐννέα χηρεύει γενεὰς ἀνθρώ-

Β πων: ὥστε σοι τὴν καλὴν [Πηνελόπην ἐννάκις ἀπο- ἐρορνε τῷ" σωφρονεῖν ἧς βούλει κορώνης.

. ᾿᾽Αλλ᾽ ἐπεί σε μὴ λέληθα σοφιστὴς wv, φέρε sci τάξει τινὶ τοῦ λόγου, τῆς μὲν σωφρο- σύνης ὅρον θέμενος, κατὰ γένος δὲ" τὰς ἐπιθυμίας διελόμενος. ἡ μὲν οὖν σωφροσύνη βραχύτης" τίς ἐστιν ἐπιθυμιῶν καὶ τάξις, ἀναιροῦσα μὲν τὰς ἐπ- εισάκτους καὶ περιττάς, καιρῷ δὲ καὶ μετριότητι κοσμοῦσα τὰς ἀναγκαίας. ταῖς δ᾽ ἐπιθυμίαις ἐν- ορᾷς" που μυρίαν διαφοράν... καὶ τὴν περὶ τὴν βρῶσιν καὶ τὴν πόσιν ἅμα τῷ φυσικῷ καὶ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον ἔχουσαν: αἱ δὲ τῶν ἀφροδισίων αἷς

C ἀρχὰς ἡ φύσις ἐνδίδωσιν, ἔστι δέ που καὶ μὴ χρώ- μενον ἔχειν ἱκανῶς ἀπαλλαγέντα, φυσικαὶ μὲν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖαι δ᾽ ἐκλήθησαν. τὸ δὲ τῶν μήτ᾽ ἀναγ-

/ Sie ~ > D ot s \ / ~ καίων μήτε φυσικῶν ἀλλ᾽ ἔξωθεν ὑπὸ δόξης κενῆς δι᾿ ἀπειροκαλίαν ἐπικεχυμένων γένος ὑμῶν μὲν IH 7 ~ \ \ > / e A / ὀλίγου δεῖν τὰς φυσικὰς ἀπέκρυψεν ὑπὸ πλήθους ε / »Μ i" / / »Μ »Μ > ἁπάσας, ἔχει δὲ καθάπερ ξένος ὄχλος ἔπηλυς ἐν δήμῳ καταβιαζόμενος πρὸς τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς πολίτας. τὰ δὲ θηρία παντάπασιν ἀβάτους καὶ ἀνεπιμίκτους ἔχοντα τοῖς ἐπεισάκτοις πάθεσι τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ τοῖς βίοις πόρρω τῆς κενῆς δόξης ὥσπερ θαλάσσης ἀπ eile τῷ μὲν" γλαφυρῶς καὶ περιττῶς διά- 1 τῷ Wyttenbach : τοῦ. 2 δὲ] κατ᾽ εἴδη δὲ Reiske. 3 βραχύτης] βραδύτης Reiske. 4 ἐνορᾷς Emperius: ἐφορᾷς. 5 περὶ τὴν βρῶσιν καὶ τὴν added by Meziriacus. 6 τῷ μὲν W.C. H.: rod.


« Cf. Mor. 415 c and the note there. > See Epicurus, frag. 456 (Usener); contrast Aristotle, Nic. Ethics iii. 10 ff. (1117 Ὁ 23 ff.); [Plato], Def. 411 8; αἱ.


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BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 989


short time, but for nine generations of men.? It follows that your fair Penelope is nine times inferior in chastity to any crow you please.

6. Now since you are not unaware that I am a sophist, let me marshal my arguments in some order by defining temperance and analysing the desires according to their kinds. Temperance,? then, is a cur- tailment and an ordering of the desires that elimi- nate those that are extraneous or superfluous and discipline in modest and timely fashion those that are essential.© You can, of course, observe countless differences in the desires@ . .. and the desire to eat and drink is at once natural and essential, while the pleasures of love, which, though they find their origin in nature, yet may be forgone and discarded without much inconvenience, have been called natural, but not essential. But there are desires of another kind, neither essential nor natural, that are imported in a deluge from without as a result of your inane illusions and because you lack true culture. So great is their multitude that the natural desires are, every one of them, all but overwhelmed, as though an alien rabble were overpowering the native citizenry. But beasts have souls completely inacces- sible and closed to these adventitious passions and live their lives as free from empty illusions as though they dwelt far from the sea. They fall short in the matter of delicate and luxurious living, but solidly


For the temperance of animals see Aristotle, De Gen. Animal. i. 4 (717 a 27).

& Of. Mor. 12774, 584.p 4.

4 There is probably a short lacuna at this point.

¢ See Plato, Laws, 704 πὶ ff. (and Shorey, What Plato Said, ad loc. p. 630): the sea is the symbol of mischievous foreign influence. Cf. Aristotle, Politics, 1327 a 11 ff.


VOL. XIE 9 513


(989


)


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yew ἀπολείπεται, TO δὲ σωφρονεῖν Kal μᾶλλον εὐνο- μεῖσθαι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, οὔτε πολλαῖς συνοικούσαις

3 οὔτ᾽ ἀλλοτρίαις, σφόδρα διαφυλάττεται.

3 ~ - “

Eye γοῦν ποτε καὶ αὐτὸν οὐχ ἧττον ἢ σὲ νῦν >? / \ \ ¢ - ae fh 5 \ ἐξέπληττε μὲν χρυσὸς ws κτῆμα TOV’ ἄλλων οὐδενὶ

, -“ > Μ \ > / 3 \

παραβλητόν, ἥρει δ᾽ ἄργυρος Kai ἐλέφας: ὁ δὲ πλεῖστα τούτων κεκτημένος ἐδόκει μακάριός τις εἶναι καὶ θεοφιλὴς ἀνήρ, εἴτε Φρὺξ ἦν εἴτε Kap τοῦ Δόλωνος ἀγεννέστερος καὶ τοῦ Πριάμου βαρυ- ποτμότερος. ἐνταῦθα δ᾽" ἀνηρτημένος ἀεὶ ταῖς > / ” / #1)? ς \ > \ A ” ἐπιθυμίας οὔτε χάριν οὔθ᾽ ἡδονὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων πραγμάτων ἀφθόνων ὄντων καὶ ἱκανῶν ἐκαρπού-


E μην, μεμφόμενος" τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ βίον, ὡς τῶν μεγί- μὴν, μεμφομ μ μεγ


στων ἐνδεὴς καὶ ἄμοιρος ἀγαθῶν ἀπολελειμμένος. τοιγαροῦν σ᾽ ὡς" μέμνημαι ἐν Κρήτῃ θεασάμενος ἀμπεχόνῃ κεκοσμημένον πανηγυρικῶς, οὐ τὴν φρό- νησιν ἐζήλουν οὐδὲ τὴν ἀρετήν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ χιτῶ- νος εἰργασμένου περιττῶς τὴν λεπτότητα καὶ τῆς χλαμύδος οὔσης ἁλουργοῦ τὴν οὐλότητα καὶ τὸ κάλλος ἀγαπῶν καὶ τεθηπώς (εἶχε δέ τι καὶ ἡ πόρπη χρυσὸς οὖσα παίγνιον οἶμαι τορείαις" διη- κριβωμένον) καὶ εἱπόμην γεγοητευμένος, ὥσπερ at γυναῖκες. ἀλλὰ νῦν ἀπηλλαγμένος ἐκείνων τῶν κενῶν δοξῶν καὶ κεκαθαρμένος χρυσὸν μὲν καὶ


F ἄργυρον ὥσπερ τοὺς ἄλλους λίθους περιορῶν ὑπερ-


/ A \ - / \ / ’ \ ἍἋ βαίνω, ταῖς δὲ σαῖς χλανίσι καὶ τάπησιν οὐδὲν ἂν μ) - ~ ~ \ pa A’? Σ ἥδιον ἢ βαθεῖ καὶ μαλθακῷ πηλῷ μεστὸς 1 κτῆμα τῶν Reiske, confirmed by Μ88. : κτημάτων. 2 δ᾽ added by Bernardakis.


“μεμφόμενος added by Wyttenbach. σ᾽ ὡς Meziriacus: ὥς ce.


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BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 989


protect their sobriety and the better regulation of their desires since those that dwell within them are neither numerous nor alien.

Certainly there was a time when I myself, no less than you now, was dazzled by gold and held it to be an incomparable possession ; so likewise I was caught by the lure of silver and ivory and the man who had most property of this sort seemed to me to be a blissful favourite of the gods, whether he was a Phrygian or a Carian, one more villainous than Dolon® or more unfortunate than Priam.’ In that situation, constantly activated ὁ by these desires, I reaped no joy or pleasure from the other things of life, which I had sufficiently and to spare. I grumbled at my life, finding myself destitute of the most im- portant things and a loser in the lottery of fortune. This is the reason why, as I recall, when I saw you once in Crete tricked out in holiday attire, it was not your intellect or your virtue that I envied, but the softness of the elegantly woven garment and the beautiful wool of your purple cloak that 1 admired and gaped at (the clasp, I believe, was of gold and had some frivolity worked on it in exquisitely fine inta- glio). I followed you about as enchanted as a woman. But now I am rid and purified of all those empty illu- sions.? I have no eyes for gold and silver and can pass them by just like any common stone ; and as for your fine robes and tapestries, I swear there’s nothing sweeter for me to rest in when I’m full than deep,


α See Iliad, x, where Dolon betrays Troy. δ See especially his speech, /liad, xxii. 38-76. ¢ Like a puppet on strings. 4 Man alone has luxury: Pliny, Nat. Hist. vii. 5.


5 τρρείαις Reiske, confirmed by Mss. : τορείας.


515


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


(989) ὧν ἐγκατακλιθείην ἀναπαυόμενος. τῶν δὲ τοιού- Tw’ τῶν ἐπεισάκτων ἐπιθυμιῶν οὐδεμία ταῖς ἡμε- τέραις ἐνοικίζεται ψυχαῖς" ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν πλεῖστα ταῖς ἀναγκαίαις ὁ βίος ἡ ἡμῶν ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ ἡδοναῖς διοικεῖται, ταῖς δ᾽ οὐκ ἀναγκαίαις ἀλλὰ φυσικαῖς μόνον οὔτ᾽ ἀτάκτως οὔτ᾽ ἀπλήστως ὁμιλοῦμεν.

990 7. Καὶ ταύτας γε πρῶτον διέλθωμεν. ἡ μὲν οὖν πρὸς τὰ εὐώδη καὶ κινοῦντα ταῖς ἀποφοραῖς τὴν ὄσφρησιν οἰκείως ἡδονὴ πρὸς τῷ τὸ ὄφελος καὶ προῖκα καὶ ἁπλοῦν ἐ ἔχειν ἅμα χρείαν τινὰ συμβαλ- λεται τῇ διαγνώσει τῆς τροφῆς. ἡ μὲν γὰρ γλῶττα τοῦ γλυκέος καὶ δριμέος καὶ αὐστηροῦ γνώμων ἐστί τε καὶ λέγεται, ὅταν τῷ γευστικῷ" προσμιγέντες ol χυμοὶ σύγχυσίν τινα λάβωσιν: ἡ δ᾽ ὄσφρησις ἡμῶν πρὸ τῶν χυμῶν γνώμων οὖσα τῆς δυνάμεως ἑκά- στου πολὺ τῶν βασιλικῶν προγευστῶν σκεπτικώ- τερον διαισθανομένη, τὸ μὲν οἰκεῖον εἴσω παρίησι τὸ δ᾽ ἀλλότριον ἀπελαύνει καὶ οὐκ ἐᾷ θιγεῖν οὐδὲ

Β λυπῆσαι τὴν γεῦσιν ἀλλὰ διαβάλλει καὶ κατηγορεῖ τὴν φαυλότητα πρὶν 7 βλαβῆναι: τἄλλα δ᾽ οὐκ ἐν- οχλεῖ, καθάπερ ὑ ὑμῖν, τὰ θυμιάματα καὶ κιννάμωμα καὶ νάρδους καὶ φύλλα καὶ καλάμους ᾿Αραβικούς, μετὰ δεινῆς τινος δευσοποιοῦ καὶ “φαρμακίδος τέχνης, 7) μυρεψικῆς ὄνομα, συνάγειν εἰς ταὐτὸ καὶ

1 τῶν δε τοιούτων Meziriacus: τὰ δὲ τοιαῦτα.


2 γευστικῷ Meziriacus: γνωστικῷ. 3 δευσοποιοῦ Kai Post: καὶ δευσοποιοῦ.



« Cf. Aelian, De Natura Animal. v. 45.

» 'The servant who pretasted the dishes at a king’s table to make certain that none of them was poisoned; cf. Athe- naeus, 171 b ff. On the collegium praegustatorum at Rome see Furneaux on Tacitus, Annals, xii. 66. 5 and Class. Phil. Xxvli, p. 160.

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BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 989-990


soft mud. None, then, of such adventitious desires has a place in our souls ; our life for the most part is controlled by the essential desires and pleasures. As for those that are non-essential, but merely natural, we resort to them without either irregularity or excess.

7. Let us, in fact, first describe these pleasures. Our pleasure in fragrant substances, those that by their nature stimulate our sense of smell, besides the fact that our enjoyment of this is simple and costs nothing, also contributes to utility by providing a way for us to tell good food from bad. For the tongue is said to be, and is, a judge of what is sweet or bitter or sour, when liquid flavours combine and fuse with the organ of taste ; but our sense of smell, even before we taste, is a judge that can much more critically distinguish the quality of each article of food than any royal taster ὃ in the world. It admits what is proper, rejects what is alien, and will not let it touch or give pain to the taste, but informs on and denounces what is bad before any harm is done. And in other respects smell is no nuisance to us, as it is to you, forcing you to collect and mix together incense of one kind or another and cinnamon ὁ and nard 4 and malobathrum ὁ and Arabian aromatic reeds,f with the aid of a formidable dyer’s or witch’s art, of the sort to which you give the name of unguentation,

¢ The aromatic bark of various species of Cinnamomum, especially C. zeylanicum Breyne, imported from India.

4 As an import from north-eastern India (probably meant here), the rootstock of spikenard, Nardostachys jata- mansi DC.

¢ The leaves of a plant of uncertain identity that grew in the Far East, perhaps Indian patchouli, Pogostemon Patch- ouly Pellet., or perhaps a type of cinnamon: cf. Pliny, Nat. Fist. xxiii. 93.

f Probably here sweet flag, Acorus calamus L.


517


(990)


Q


D


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


) συμφυρᾶν' ἀναγκάζουσα, χρημάτων πολλῶν ἡδυ- πάθειαν ἄνανδρον καὶ κορασιώδη καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν οὐδαμῶς χρήσιμον ὠνουμένοις. ἀλλὰ καίπερ οὖσα τοιαύτη διέφθαρκεν οὐ μόνον πάσας γυναῖκας ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἤδη τοὺς πλείστους, ὡς μηδὲ ταῖς αὑτῶν ἐθέλειν συγγίνεσθαι γυναιξίν, εἰ μὴ μύρων ὑμῖν ὀδωδυῖαι καὶ διαπασμάτων εἰς ταὐτὸ φοιτῷεν. ἀλλὰ κάπρους τε σύες καὶ τράγους αἶγες καὶ τἄλλα θήλεα τοὺς συννόμους αὐτῶν ταῖς ἰδίαις ὀσμαῖς ἐπάγεται, δρόσου τε καθαρᾶς καὶ λειμώνων ὀδω- δότα καὶ χλόης συμφέρεται πρὸς τοὺς γάμους ὑπὸ κοινῆς φιλοφροσύνης, οὐχὶ θρυπτόμεναι μὲν αἱ θή- ειαι καὶ προϊσχόμεναι τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἀπάτας καὶ γοητείας καὶ ἀρνήσεις, οἱ δ᾽ ἄρρενες ὑπ᾽ οἴστρου καὶ μαργότητος ὠνούμενοι μισθῶν καὶ πόνου καὶ ατρείας τὸ τῆς γενέσεως ἔργον, ἄδολον" δὲ σὺν καιρῷ καὶ ἄμισθον ᾿Αφροδίτην μετιόντες, ἣ Kal? ὥραν ἔτους ὥσπερ φυτῶν βλάστην ἐγείρουσα τῶν ζῴων τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν εὐθὺς “ἔσβεσεν, οὔτε τοῦ θήλεος προσιεμένου μετὰ τὴν κύησιν οὔτε ᾿πειρῶντος ἔτι τοῦ ἄρρενος. οὕτω “μικρὰν ἔχει καὶ ἀσθενῆ τιμὴν ἡδονὴ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν, τὸ δ᾽ ὅλον ἡ φύσις. ὅθεν οὔτ᾽ ἄρρενος πρὸς ἄρρεν οὔτε θήλεος πρὸς θῆλυ μῖξιν at* τῶν θηρίων ἐπιθυμίαι μέχρι γε νῦν ἐνηνόχασιν. ὑμῶν δὲ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν σεμνῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν"


  • συμφυρᾶν Bernardakis: συμφαγεῖν or συμφοιτεῖν (συμ-

παγῆναι Post). ὠνουμένοις Wyttenbach : ὠνουμένους. 3 ἄδουλον Reiske.


4 ai Meziriacus: εἶναι.


« Cf. Pliny’s frequent and indignant remarks, e.g. Nat. Hist. xii. 29 and 83; also Seneca, Qu. at. vii. 30-31.


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thus buying at a great price an effeminate, emascu- lating luxury which has absolutely no real use. Yet, though such is its nature, it has depraved not only every woman, but lately the greater part of men as well, so that they refuse to sleep even with their own wives unless they come to bed reeking with myrrh and scented powders.* But sows attract boars and nannies bucks and other female creatures their con- sorts by means of their own special odours ; scented, as they are, with pure dew and grassy meadows, they are attracted to the nuptial union by mutual affec- tion. The females are not coy and do not cloak their desires with deceits or trickeries or denials ; nor do the males, driven on by the sting of mad lust, purchase the act of procreation by money or toil or servitude. No! Both parties celebrate at the proper time a love without deceit or hire, a love which in the season of spring ° awakens, like the burgeoning of plants and trees, the desire of animals, and then immediately extinguishes it. Neither does the female continue to receive the male after she has conceived, nor does the male attempt her.? So slight and feeble is the regard we have for pleasure : our whole concern is with Nature. Whence it comes about that to this very day the desires of beasts have encompassed no homosexual mating.® But you have a fair amount of such trafficking among your high and mighty nobility, to say nothing of the baser


» Cf. Mor. 493 r; Plato, Laws, 840 p; Oppian, Cyn. i. 378.

¢ Cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. x.171; Philo, 48 (p. 123); Aelian, De Natura Animal. ix. 63; Oppian, Hal. i. 473 ff.

4 But see Oppian, Cyn. iii. 146 ff.

¢ Of. Plato, Laws, 836 c; but see Pliny, Nat. Hist. x. 166 ; Aelian, De Natura Animal. xv. 11; Varia Hist. i. 15; al.


519


(990)


10)


=


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


IA \ \ ? \ > / « Θ...5 / \ ἐῶ yap τοὺς οὐδενὸς ἀξίους: 6 δ᾽ ᾿Αγαμέμνων τὴν Βοιωτίαν ἐπῆλθε κυνηγετῶν τὸν “Apyvvvov’ ὑπο- φεύγοντα καὶ καταψευδόμενος τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τῶν πνευμάτων... εἶτα καλὸν καλῶς ἑαυτὸν / > \ oh / ¢ ᾿] / βαπτίζων εἰς τὴν Κωπαΐδα λίμνην, ws αὐτόθι Kata- / \ ” \ “ἢ > / > / σβέσων τὸν ἔρωτα καὶ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἀπαλλαξό- μενος. ὁ δ᾽ Ἡρακλῆς ὁμοίως ἑταῖρον ἀγένειον 5 / > / ~ > / \ / ἐπιδιώκων ἀπελείφθη τῶν ἀριστέων Kal προύδωκε τὸν στόλον" ἐν δὲ τῇ θόλῳ τοῦ IItwHov ᾿Απόλλωνος / ¢ ~ Sie COPS \ / ᾽) λαθών τις ὑμῶν ἐνέγραψεν “᾿᾿Αχιλλεὺς καλός, ” a > / εν ” \ \ / ἤδη τοῦ ᾿Αχιλλέως υἱὸν ἔχοντος" καὶ τὰ γράμματα πυνθάνομαι διαμένειν. ἀλεκτρυὼν δ᾽ ἀλεκτρυόνος ἐπιβαίνων, θηλείας μὴ παρούσης, καταπίμπραται ζωός, μάντεώς τινος ἢ τερατοσκόπου μέγα καὶ δεινὸν ἀποφαίνοντος εἶναι τὸ γινόμενον. οὕτω καὶ παρ᾽ » ~ > / ~ > / 7 ~ αὐτῶν ἀνωμολόγηται τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅτι μᾶλλον A ~ / τοῖς θηρίοις σωφρονεῖν προσήκει καὶ μὴ παραβιά- ζεσθαι ταῖς ἡδοναῖς τὴν φύσιν. τὰ δ᾽ ἐν ὑμῖν ἀκό- λαστα οὐδὲ τὸν νόμον ἔχουσα σύμμαχον ἡ φύσις ἐντὸς ὅρων καθείργνυσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ ὑπὸ ῥεύματος > , A2 mo ES , \ “ ἐκφερόμενα πολλαχοῦ" ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις δεινὴν ὕβριν καὶ ταραχὴν καὶ σύγχυσιν ἐν τοῖς ἀφροδισίοις ἀπερ- γάζεται τῆς φύσεως. καὶ γὰρ αἰγῶν ἐπειράθησαν ἄνδρες καὶ ὑῶν καὶ ἵππων μιγνύμενοι καὶ γυναῖκες


1 ”Apyuvvov Leopardus: ἀργαῖον. 2 πολλαχοῦ] πολλάκις Hartman.



α See Barber and Butler on Propertius, iii. 7. 21.

» Probably a brief lacuna should be assumed.

¢ The story of Hylas is related by Theocritus, xiii, Apol- lonius Rhodius, i. 1207-1272, Propertius, i. 20; al.

4 The Argonauts. ¢ The famous shrine in Boeotia. 520


BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 990


sort. Agamemnon’ came to Boeotia hunting for Argynnus, who tried to elude him, and slandering the sea and winds” . . . then he gave his noble self a noble bath in Lake Copais to drown his passion there and get rid of his desire. Just so Heracles,° pursuing a beardless lad, lagged behind the other heroes* and deserted the expedition. On the Rotunda of Ptoian Apollo ὁ one of your men secretly inscribed FaIR Is ACHILLES /—when Achilles already had ason. And I hear that the inscription is still in place.’ But a cock that mounts another for the lack of a female is burned alive because some prophet or seer declares that such an event is an important and terrible omen. On this basis even men themselves acknowledge that beasts have a better claim to temperance and the non-violation of nature in their pleasures. Not even Nature, with Law for her ally, can keep within bounds the unchastened vice of your hearts ; but as though swept by the current of their lusts beyond the barrier at many points, men do such deeds as wantonly outrage } Nature, upset her order, and confuse her distinctions. For men have, in fact, attempted to consort with goats” and sows and mares, and women have gone mad with lust for


7 On the formula see Robinson and Fluck, ‘* Greek Love Names” (Johns Hopkins Archaeol. Stud. xxiii, 1937).

9 Reiske acutely observes that this is presumably an annotation of Plutarch himself, speaking not from Gryllus’ character, but from his own. Since Odysseus, Achilles, and Gryllus were contemporaries, it would hardly be surprising that the inscription should still be there. And if it were, how would Gryllus know ?

rk See Gow on Theocritus, i. 86; Bergen Evans, op. cit. 101 f., and on the “ vileness ᾿ of animals, p. 173. For the general problem see, ¢.9., J. Rosenbaum, Geschichte der Lust- seuche im Altertume (Berlin, 1904), pp. 274 ff.


521


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


99] ἄρρεσι θηρίοις ἐπεμάνησαν" ἐκ γὰρ τῶν τοιούτων γάμων ὑμῖν Μινώταυροι καὶ Αἰγίπανες, ὡς δ᾽ ey@par καὶ Udiyyes ἀναβλαστάνουσι καὶ Κέν- ταυροι. καίτοι διὰ λιμόν ποτ᾽ ἀνθρώπου καὶ κύων ἔφαγεν καὶ ὑπ᾽ ἀνάγκης" ὄρνις ἀπεγεύσατο" πρὸς δὲ συνουσίαν οὐδέποτε θηρίον ἐπεχείρησεν ἀνθρώπῳ χρήσασθαι. θηρία δ᾽ ἄνθρωποι καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα

\ \ ” \2 3ὲ (Me \ 7, \ καὶ πρὸς ἄλλα πολλὰ" Kal? ἡδονὰς βιάζονται καὶ παρανομοῦσιν.

LA \ ~ \ > a \ \ >

8. Οὕτω δὲ φαῦλοι καὶ ἀκρατεῖς περὶ Tas εἰρη-

/ > / 4 ” - > A > , μένας ἐπιθυμίας ὄντες ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐν ταῖς ἀναγκαίαις ἐλέγχονται πολὺ τῷ σωφρονεῖν ἀπολειπόμενοι τῶν θηρίων. αὗται δ᾽ εἰσὶν at περὶ βρῶσιν καὶ πόσιν"

Β ὧν ἡμεῖς μὲν τὸ ἡδὺ μετὰ χρείας τινὸς ἀεὶ λαμβάνο- μεν, ὑμεῖς δὲ τὴν ἡδονὴν μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ κατὰ φύσιν τῆς τροφῆς διώκοντες ὑπὸ πολλῶν καὶ μακρῶν κολάζεσθε νοσημάτων, ἅπερ ἐκ μιᾶς πηγῆς ἐπαν- τλούμενα" τῆς πλησμονῆς" παντοδαπῶν πνευμάτων καὶ δυσκαθάρτων ὑμᾶς ἐμπίπλησι. πρῶτον μὲν

\ « / / / / \ / / > yap ἑκάστῳ γένει ζῴου pia τροφὴ σύμφυλός ἐστι, τοῖς μὲν πόα τοῖς δὲ ῥίζα τις ἢ καρπός" ὅσα δὲ

~ \ 299 \ » / ~ σαρκοφαγεῖ, πρὸς οὐδὲν ἄλλο τρέπεται βορᾶς εἶδος οὐδ᾽ ἀφαιρεῖται τῶν ἀσθενεστέρων τὴν τροφήν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐᾷ νέμεσθαι καὶ λέων ἔλαφον καὶ λύκος “πρόβατον Gh πέφυκεν. ὁ δ᾽ ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ πάντα ταῖς ἡδοναῖς ᾿ καὶ ὑπ᾽ ἀνάγκης W.C.H.: ὑπ᾽ ἀνάγκης καὶ.


5. καὶ πρὸς . . . πολλὰ] these words should perhaps be


deleted. 8. ἐπαντλούμενα Wyttenbach : ἀπαντλούμενα. 4 πλησμονῆς W. C. Η. : πλησμονῆς τοῖς σώμασι.


¢ Cf. Frazer on Apollodorus, iii. 1. 4 (L.C.L., vol. i, pp. 305-307); Philo, 66 (p. 131).


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BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 991


male beasts. From such unions your Minotaurs % and Aegipans,® and, I suppose, your Sphinxes ° and Centaurs ὦ have arisen. Yet it is through hunger that dogs have occasionally eaten a man; and birds have tasted of human flesh through necessity ; but no beast has ever attempted a human body for lustful reasons.* But the beasts I have mentioned and many others have been victims of the violent and lawless lusts of man.

8. Though men are so vile and incontinent where the desires I have spoken of are concerned, they can be proved to be even more so in the case of essential desires, being here far inferior to animals in temper- ance.’ These are the desires for food and drink, in which we beasts always take our pleasure along with some sort of utility ; whereas you, in your pursuit of pleasure rather than natural nourishment, are punished by many serious ailments which, welling up from one single source, the surfeit of your bodies, fill you with all manner of flatulence that is difficult to purge.’ In the first place each species of animal has one single food proper to it, grass or some root or fruit. Those that are carnivorous resort to no other kind of nourishment, nor do they deprive those weaker than themselves of sustenance ; but the lion lets the deer, and the wolf lets the sheep, feed in its natural pasture. But man in his pleasures is led


> «ὁ Goat Pans’; ef. Hyginus, fable 155; Mela, i. 8. 48.

¢ See Frazer on Apollodorus, iii. 5. 8 (L.C.L., vol. i, p. 347).

@ See Frazer on Apollodorus, Epitome, i. 20 (L.C.L., vol. ii, p. 148); Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. ‘‘ Centaurs.”

¢ But see, e.g., Aelian, De Natura Animal. xv. 14.

  • Cf. Philo, 47 (p. 122).

9 Cf. Mor. 131 F.


523


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


(991) ὑπὸ λαιμαργίας ἐξαγόμενος καὶ πειρώμενος πάντων καὶ ἀπογευόμενος, ὡς οὐδέπω τὸ “πρόσφορον καὶ οἰκεῖον ἐγνωκώς, μόνος γέγονε τῶν ὄντων παμ- φάγον.

Καὶ σαρξὶ χρῆται πρῶτον ὑπ᾽ οὐδεμιᾶς ἀπορίας οὐδ᾽ ἀμηχανίας, ᾧ πάρεστιν ἀεὶ καθ᾽ ὥραν ἄλλ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἄλλοις ἀπὸ φυτῶν καὶ σπερμάτων τρυγῶντι καὶ λαμβάνοντι καὶ δρεπομένῳ μονονοὺ κάμνειν διὰ

~ > > ¢ \ land \ / ~ > / πλῆθος" ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὸ τρυφῆς καὶ κόρου τῶν ἀναγκαίων βρώσεις ἀνεπιτηδείους καὶ οὐ καθαρὰς σφαγαῖς ζῴων μετερχόμενος πολὺ τῶν ἀγριωτάτων θηρίων ὠμότερον. αἷμα μὲν γὰρ καὶ φόνος καὶ σάρκες

D ἰκτίνῳ καὶ λύκῳ καὶ δράκοντι σιτίον οἰκεῖον, ἀν- θρώπῳ δ᾽ ὄψον ἐστίν. ἔπειτα παντὶ γένει χρώ- μενος οὐχ ὡς τὰ θηρία τῶν πλείστων ἀπέχεται, DNwz \ A \ \ ~ ~ > 7 ὀλίγοις δὲ πολεμεῖ διὰ τὴν τῆς τροφῆς ἀνάγκην"

> “-

ἀλλ᾽ οὔτε τι πτηνὸν οὔτε νηκτόν, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, οὔτε χερσαῖον ἐκπέφευγε τὰς ἡμέρους δὴ λεγομένας ὑμῶν καὶ φιλοξένους τραπέζας.

9. Εἶεν: add’ ὄψοις χρῆσθε τούτοις ἐφηδύνοντες τὴν τροφήν. τί οὖν ἐπ᾿ αὐτὰ ταῦτα... φῶντας ;" > ΕΝ 1 ~ / / ~ \ > ’ὔ’ \ ἀλλ᾽ ἡ τῶν θηρίων φρόνησις τῶν μὲν ἀχρήστων καὶ

~ ~ > ματαίων τεχνῶν οὐδεμιᾷ χώραν δίδωσι, tas ὃ ἀναγκαίας οὐκ ἐπεισάκτους παρ᾽ ἑτέρων οὐδὲ μι- 1 μονονοὺ Reiske: μὴ. 2 φῶντας] τρυφῶντας Bernardakis.

  • Of. 964 τε supra; and with the whole passage cf. the

impressive proem to the seventh book of Pliny’s Natural History.

» ** Man is the only animal liable to the disease of a con-


tinuously insatiable appetite.” Pliny, Nat. Hist. xi. 288; ef. Philo, 62 (p. 136); Lucan, iv. 373-381; al.


524


BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 991


astray by gluttony to everything edible “; he tries and tastes everything as if he had not yet come to recognize what is suitable and proper for him ; alone of all creatures he is omnivorous. ὃ

In the first place his eating of flesh is caused by no lack of means or methods,® for he can always in season harvest and garner and gather in such a succession of plants and grains as will all but tire him out with their abundance; but driven on by luxurious desires and satiety with merely essential nourishment, he pursues illicit food, made unclean by the slaughter of beasts; and he does this in a much more cruel way than the most savage beasts of prey. Blood and gore and raw flesh are the proper diet of kite and wolf and snake ; to man they are an appetizer.? Then, too, man makes use of every kind of food and does not, like beasts, abstain from most kinds and consequently make war on a few only that he must have for food. In a word, nothing that flies or swims or moves on land has escaped your so-called civilized and hospitable tables.

9. Well, then. It is admitted that you use animals as appetizers to sweeten your fare. Why, therefore 7 . . . Animal intelligence, on the contrary, allows no room for useless and pointless arts ; and in the case of essential ones, we do not make one man with con-

¢ Cf. 993 Ὁ infra.

¢ Cf. 998 pv, 995 c infra.

¢ Or ‘‘ as supplementary food to make your basic fare more agreeable ’’ (Andrews).

7 There is probably a considerable lacuna at this point ; it is indicated in one of the mss. The sense may perhaps be: ‘‘ Why, in providing yourselves with meat for your luxurious living, have you invented a special art whose


practitioners make cookery their sole study ? Animal intelli- gence, on the contrary,”’ etc.


525


(991)


992


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


σθοῦ διδακτὰς οὐδὲ κολλῶσα μελέτῃ Kal συμπη- / / a γνύουσα γλίσχρως τῶν θεωρημάτων ἕκαστον πρὸς - LAA’ > 50 b] « ~ τ fA - \ ἕκαστον ἀλλ᾽ αὐτόθεν ἐξ αὑτῆς οἷον ἰθαγενεῖς Kat / > / \ \ \ ’ / συμφύτους ἀναδίδωσι. τοὺς μὲν yap Αἰγυπτίους / ] ~ πάντας ἰατροὺς ἀκούομεν εἶναι, τῶν δὲ ζῴων ἕκα- στον οὐ μόνον πρὸς ἴασιν αὐτότεχνόν ἐστιν ἀλλὰ \ καὶ πρὸς διατροφὴν Kal πρὸς ἀλκὴν θήραν τε καὶ φυλακὴν καὶ μουσικῆς ὅσον ἑκάστῳ προσήκει κατὰ / A ~ φύσιν. παρὰ τίνος yap ἡμεῖς ἐμάθομεν νοσοῦντες > ~ ἐπὶ τοὺς ποταμοὺς χάριν τῶν καρκίνων βαδίζειν ; / \ \ / 29 7 ~ Μ ͵7ὔ τίς δὲ τὰς χελώνας ἐδίδαξε τῆς ἔχεως φαγούσας τὴν ὀρίγανον ἐπεσθίειν ; τίς δὲ τὰς Κρητικὰς αἶγας, ὅταν περιπέσωσι τοῖς τοξεύμασι, τὸ δίκταμνον 7 e / ? / a > / Ἃ διώκειν, οὗ βρωθέντος ἐκβάλλουσι τὰς ἀκίδας ; ἂν \ » i LA θ > / ὃ ὃ ΄ γὰρ εἴπῃς, ὅπερ ἀληθές ἐστι, τούτων διδάσκαλον εἶναι τὴν φύσιν, εἰς τὴν κυριωτάτην καὶ σοφωτάτην \ ~ ἀρχὴν avadépers τὴν τῶν θηρίων φρόνησιν: ἣν εἰ \ / » - \ / A - σ μὴ λόγον οἴεσθε δεῖν μηδὲ φρόνησιν καλεῖν, ὥρα σκοπεῖν ὄνομα κάλλιον αὐτῇ καὶ τιμιώτερον, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καὶ du’ ἔργων ἀμείνονα καὶ θαυμασιωτέραν \ παρέχεται τὴν δύναμιν: οὐκ ἀμαθὴς οὐδ᾽ ἀπαί- - “ \ > devtos, αὐτομαθὴς δέ τις μᾶλλον οὖσα καὶ ἀπροσ- , ,’ > > / > \ LS, \ / dens, od dv ἀσθένειαν ἀλλὰ ῥώμῃ καὶ τελειότητι τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἀρετῆς, χαίρειν ἐῶσα τὸν παρ᾽ ἑτέρων διὰ μαθήσεως τοῦ φρονεῖν συνερανισμόν. ~ ~ “ > ὅσα γοῦν ἄνθρωποι τρυφῶντες ἢ παίζοντες εἰς TO


1 τιμιώτερον Meziriacus : τιμιώτατον.



¢ This curious statement may come from a misreading of Herodotus, ii. 84.


526


BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 991-992


stant study cling to one department of knowledge and rivet him jealously to that ; nor do we receive our arts as alien products or pay to be taught them. Our intelligence produces them on the spot unaided, as its own congenital and legitimate skills. I have heard that in Egypt ὦ everyone is a physician; and in the case of beasts each one is not only his own specialist in medicine, but also in the providing of food, in warfare and hunting as well as in self-defence and music, in so far as any kind of animal has a natural gift for it. From whom have we swine learned, when we are sick, to resort to rivers to catch crabs ? Who taught tortoises to devour marjoram after eating the snake ἢ ὃ And who instructed Cretan goats,© when they are pierced by an arrow, to look for dittany, after eating which the arrowhead falls out? For if you speak the truth and say that Nature is their teacher, you are elevating the intelligence of animals to the most sovereign and wisest of first principles. If you do not think that it should be called either reason or intelligence, it is high time for you to cast about for some fairer and even more honourable term to describe it, since certainly the faculty that it brings to bear in action is better and more remarkable.? It is no uninstructed or untrained faculty, but rather self-taught and self-sufficient— and not for lack of strength. It is just because of the health and completeness of its native virtue that it is indifferent to the contributions to its intelligence supplied by the lore of others. Such animals, at any rate, as man for amusement or easy living induces to


ὑ Cf. 974 B supra and the note. ¢ Cf. 974 D supra and the note. 4 That is, “‘ better ’’ than human intelligence.


527


(992)


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


/ \ ~ », / « / μανθάνειν καὶ μελετᾶν ἄγουσι, τούτων ἡ διάνοια καὶ παρὰ φύσιν τοῦ σώματος" περιουσίᾳ συνέσεως

/ ~ ἀναλαμβάνει τὰς μαθήσεις. ἐῶ yap ἰχνεύειν σκύ- λακας καὶ βαδίζειν ἐν ῥυθμῷ πώλους μελετῶντας \2 / / \ / “ \ καὶ κόρακας διαλέγεσθαι καὶ κύνας ἄλλεσθαι διὰ τροχῶν περιφερομένων. ἵπποι δὲ καὶ βόες ἐν θεά- τροις κατακλίσεις καὶ χορείας καὶ στάσεις παρα- βόλους καὶ κινήσεις οὐδ᾽ ἀνθρώποις πάνυ ῥᾳδίας ἀκριβοῦσιν ἐκδιδασκόμενοι καὶ μνημονεύοντες εὐ- θ / ’ ὃ ἕ 3 ἃ LAA se ᾽ὃ ~ ᾽ὔ μαθείας ἐπίδειξιν εἰς" ἄλλο οὐδὲν οὐδαμῶς χρήσιμον ἔχουσαν. εἰ δ᾽ ἀπιστεῖς ὅτι τέχνας μανθάνομεν, ἄκουσον ὅτι καὶ διδάσκομεν. αἵ τε γὰρ πέρδικες ~ > ἐν τῷ προφεύγειν τοὺς νεοττοὺς ἐθίζουσιν ἀπο- / \ sh ~ > > ¢ ~ κρύπτεσθαι Kal προΐσχεσθαι βῶλον ἀνθ᾽ ἑαυτῶν A \ A“ τοῖς ποσὶν ὑπτίους ἀναπεσόντας" Kal τοῖς πελαργι- ~ ~ ~ ~ ¢ δεῦσιν ὁρᾷς ἐπὶ τῶν τεγῶν ὡς ot τέλειοι παρόντες ἀναπειρωμένοις ὑφηγοῦνται τὴν πτῆσιν. αἱ δ᾽ ἀηδόνες τοὺς νεοσσοὺς προδιδάσκουσιν ade: ot \ / ” / \ / >? \ δὲ ληφθέντες ἔτι νήπιοι καὶ τραφέντες ἐν χερσὶν a \ σ ἀνθρώπων χεῖρον ἄδουσιν, ὥσπερ πρὸ ὥρας ἀπὸ \ > διδασκάλου γεγονότες. . . . καταδὺς δ᾽ εἰς τουτὶ

~ , τὸ σῶμα θαυμάζω τοὺς λόγους ἐκείνους οἷς av- επειθόμην ὑπὸ τῶν σοφιστῶν ἄλογα καὶ ἀνόητα πάντα πλὴν ἀνθρώπου νομίζειν.

10. oa. Νῦν μὲν οὖν, ὦ Γρύλλε, μεταβέβλησαι 1 σώματος Reiske : σώματος καὶ.


2 καὶ Hartman: ἀλλὰ (ἅμα καὶ Post). eis Reiske 3 Υ ts: 4 ἔχουσαν Wyttenbach: ἔχουσιν.



“ Like our trotters or pacers. ’ A somewhat similar performance of elephants is de- scribed in Philo, 27 (pp. 113 f.).


528


BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 992


accept instruction and training have understanding to grasp what they are taught even when it goes contrary to their physical endowment, so superior are their mental powers. I say nothing of puppies that are trained as hunters, or colts schooled to keep time in their gait,? or crows that are taught to talk, or dogs, to jump through revolving hoops. In the theatres horses and steers go through an exact routine in which they lie down or dance or hold a precarious pose or perform movements not at all easy even for men’; and they remember what they have been taught, these exhibitions of docility w hich are not in the least useful for anything else. if you are doubtful that we can learn arts, then let me tell you that we can even teach them. When partridges ¢ are making their escape, they accustom their fledglings to hide by falling on their backs and holding a lump of earth over themselves with their claws. You can observe storks on the roof, the adults showing the art of flying to the young as they make their trial flights.¢ Nightingales ὁ set the example for their young to sing; while nestlings that are caught young and brought up by human care are poorer singers, as though they had left the care of their teacher too early.f . . . and since I have entered into this new body of mine, I marvel at those arguments by which the sophists 5 brought me to consider all creatures except man irrational and senseless.

10. opyssEus. So now, Gryllus, you are trans-


¢ Of. 971 c supra; Mor. 494 © and the note.

4 In Aelian, De Natura Animal. viii. 22 will be found the tale of a stork who did not learn in time.

¢ Cf. 973 B supra.

7 There is probably a long lacuna at this point.

9 Probably the Stoics are meant (by anachronism).


529


(992)


KE


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


\ \ \ / \ > / \ ‘ σὺ Kal τὸ πρόβατον λογικὸν ἀποφαίνεις καὶ TOV » ὄνον ;

- 13 > rp. Αὐτοῖς μὲν οὖν τούτοις, ὦ βέλτιστε ᾿Οδυσ- ~ / - / \ “ / σεῦ, μάλιστα δεῖ τεκμαίρεσθαι τὴν τῶν θηρίων

/ ς / \ / » Μ ΝΜ

φύσιν, ὡς λόγου καὶ συνέσεως οὐκ ἔστιν ἀμοιρος. ¢ ~ > ὡς yap’ οὐκ ἔστι δένδρον ἕτερον ἑτέρου μᾶλλον οὐδ - » > ove , ” 7 \ > ἧττον ἄψυχον, ἀλλ᾽ ὁμοίως ἔχει πάντα πρὸς avat- / > Δ \ > ~ ~ / Ad

σθησίαν (οὐδενὶ yap αὐτῶν ψυχῆς μέτεστιν), οὕτως

᾽ a“ 5 / ~ “ c / - - οὐκ ἂν ἐδόκει ζῷον ἕτερον ἑτέρου τῷ φρονεῖν > / + \ / > \ / apyotepov εἶναι καὶ δυσμαθέστερον, εἰ μὴ πάντα λόγου καὶ συνέσεως, ἄλλα δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον ” “- 5 / > “ \ 2 FF ἄλλων πως μετεῖχεν. ἐννόησον δ᾽ ὅτι Tas ἐνίων > / \ / > / ¢e / ἀβελτερίας καὶ BAaketas ἐλέγχουσιν ἑτέρων πανουρ-

/ \ / a > 4 \ / \

γίαι Kal δριμύτητες, ὅταν ἀλώπεκι καὶ λύκῳ Kal

, 2 7 » \ ΄ “ > μελίττῃ παραβάλῃς ὄνον καὶ πρόβατον: ὥσπερ εἰ σαυτῷ τὸν ἰολύφημον ἢ τῷ πάππῳ σου τῷ Αὐτο-

7 \ , Sian \ ὅγε νὴ > \ λύκῳ τὸν Κόροιβον ἐκεῖνον τὸν μωρόν. οὐ yap

s , \ , 3”) 9 s / οἶμαι θηρίου πρὸς θηρίον ἀπόστασιν εἶναι τοσαύτην, σ΄ Μ 3 / ~ ~ \ / ὅσον ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπου τῷ φρονεῖν καὶ Aoyile-

\ / > / σθαι καὶ μνημονεύειν ἀφέστηκεν.

oa. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ὅρα, Τρύλλε, μὴ δεινὸν 7 καὶ βίαιον > aA 7, e > > / A 7 ἀπολιπεῖν λόγον οἷς οὐκ ἐγγίνεται θεοῦ νόησις.


1 ὡς γὰρ Wyttenbach: ὥσπερ.


530


BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 992


formed. Do you attribute reason even to the sheep and the ass ?

GRYLLUS. From even these, dearest Odysseus, it is perfectly possible to gather that animals have a natural endowment of reason and intellect. For just as one tree is not more nor less inanimate than another, but they are all in the same state of in- sensibility, since none is endowed with soul, in the same way one animal would not be thought to be more sluggish or indocile mentally than another if they did not all possess reason and intellect to some degree—though some have a greater or less propor- tion than others. Please note that cases of dullness and stupidity in some animals are demonstrated by the cleverness and sharpness of others—as when you compare an ass and a sheep with a fox or a wolf or a bee. It is like comparing Polyphemus to you or that dunce Coroebus “ to your grandfather Autolycus.? 1 scarcely believe that there is such a spread between one animal and another as there is between man and man in the matter of judgement and reasoning and memory.

opyssEus. But consider, Gryllus : is it not a fearful piece of violence to grant reason to creatures that have no inherent knowledge of God ?


¢ For Haupt’s fine correction (Hermes, vi, Ὁ. 4=Opuscula, ili, p. 552) cf. Leutsch and Schneidewin, Paroemiographi Graeci, i. 101 (Zenobius, iv. 58); Lucian, Philopseudis, 3. Coroebus was proverbially so stupid that he tried to count the waves of the sea.

ὑ Odyssey, xix. 394 ff.: Autolycus surpassed all men “ in thefts and perjury,” a gift of Hermes.


2 καὶ μελίττῃ) Should perhaps be deleted. 3 τὸν Κόροιβον ἐκεῖνον τὸν μωρόν Haupt: τὸν Kopivéov ἐκεῖνον ὅμηρον.


531


PLUTARCH’S MORALIA


(992) rp. Εἶτά σε μὴ φῶμεν, ὦ ᾿Οδυσσεῦ, σοφὸν οὕτως ὄντα καὶ περιττὸν Σισύφου γεγονέναι ;


« Most critics (and very emphatically Ziegler) believe that the end, perhaps quite a long continuation, is lost; but Reiske ingeniously supposes Gryllus’ final answer to mean : ‘* If those who do not know God cannot possess reason, then you, wise Odysseus, can scarcely be descended from such a notorious atheist as Sisyphus.” (For Sisyphus’ famous assertion that ‘‘ the gods are only a utilitarian invention ” see Critias, Sisyphus, frag. 1: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. 0) ay Wee:

There would, then, be no further point in prolonging the discussion ; and no doubt by this time Odysseus has changed his mind about the desirability of any further metamorphosis


532


BEASTS ARE RATIONAL, 992


GryLLus. Then shall we deny, Odysseus, that so wise and remarkable a man as you had Sisyphus for a father ὃ 4


of his interlocutor, since the last argument touches him nearly. Sisyphus was said by some to be his real father (Mor. 301 p).

Others, however, believe that some discussion of further virtues, such as natural piety, must have followed; and per- haps the account closed with a consideration of justice. But would Odysseus have been convinced (cf. 986 B) ? Or is this as good a place as any to end? Plutarch used no stage directions, so that, as in the classical Platonic dialogues, when the characters stop speaking, the discussion is over and we are left to draw our own conclusions. The undoubted fact, however, that the work is mutilated in several other places allows us to leave the question open.


533







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See also




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