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1
+ Produced by Glyn Hughes. HTML version by Al Haines.
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+
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+ The Categories
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+
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+ By
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+
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+ Aristotle
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+
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+ Translated by E. M. Edghill
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+
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+ Section 1
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+
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+ Part 1
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+
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+ Things are said to be named 'equivocally' when, though they have a
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+ common name, the definition corresponding with the name differs for
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+ each. Thus, a real man and a figure in a picture can both lay claim to
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+ the name 'animal'; yet these are equivocally so named, for, though they
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+ have a common name, the definition corresponding with the name differs
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+ for each. For should any one define in what sense each is an animal,
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+ his definition in the one case will be appropriate to that case only.
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+
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+ On the other hand, things are said to be named 'univocally' which have
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+ both the name and the definition answering to the name in common. A man
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+ and an ox are both 'animal', and these are univocally so named,
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+ inasmuch as not only the name, but also the definition, is the same in
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+ both cases: for if a man should state in what sense each is an animal,
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+ the statement in the one case would be identical with that in the other.
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+
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+ Things are said to be named 'derivatively', which derive their name
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+ from some other name, but differ from it in termination. Thus the
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+ grammarian derives his name from the word 'grammar', and the courageous
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+ man from the word 'courage'.
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+
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+ Part 2
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+
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+ Forms of speech are either simple or composite. Examples of the latter
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+ are such expressions as 'the man runs', 'the man wins'; of the former
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+ 'man', 'ox', 'runs', 'wins'.
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+
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+ Of things themselves some are predicable of a subject, and are never
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+ present in a subject. Thus 'man' is predicable of the individual man,
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+ and is never present in a subject.
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+
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+ By being 'present in a subject' I do not mean present as parts are
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+ present in a whole, but being incapable of existence apart from the
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+ said subject.
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+
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+ Some things, again, are present in a subject, but are never predicable
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+ of a subject. For instance, a certain point of grammatical knowledge is
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+ present in the mind, but is not predicable of any subject; or again, a
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+ certain whiteness may be present in the body (for colour requires a
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+ material basis), yet it is never predicable of anything.
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+
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+ Other things, again, are both predicable of a subject and present in a
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+ subject. Thus while knowledge is present in the human mind, it is
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+ predicable of grammar.
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+
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+ There is, lastly, a class of things which are neither present in a
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+ subject nor predicable of a subject, such as the individual man or the
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+ individual horse. But, to speak more generally, that which is
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+ individual and has the character of a unit is never predicable of a
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+ subject. Yet in some cases there is nothing to prevent such being
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+ present in a subject. Thus a certain point of grammatical knowledge is
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+ present in a subject.
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+
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+ Part 3
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+
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+ When one thing is predicated of another, all that which is predicable
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+ of the predicate will be predicable also of the subject. Thus, 'man' is
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+ predicated of the individual man; but 'animal' is predicated of 'man';
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+ it will, therefore, be predicable of the individual man also: for the
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+ individual man is both 'man' and 'animal'.
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+
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+ If genera are different and co-ordinate, their differentiae are
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+ themselves different in kind. Take as an instance the genus 'animal'
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+ and the genus 'knowledge'. 'With feet', 'two-footed', 'winged',
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+ 'aquatic', are differentiae of 'animal'; the species of knowledge are
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+ not distinguished by the same differentiae. One species of knowledge
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+ does not differ from another in being 'two-footed'.
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+
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+ But where one genus is subordinate to another, there is nothing to
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+ prevent their having the same differentiae: for the greater class is
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+ predicated of the lesser, so that all the differentiae of the predicate
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+ will be differentiae also of the subject.
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+
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+ Part 4
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+
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+ Expressions which are in no way composite signify substance, quantity,
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+ quality, relation, place, time, position, state, action, or affection.
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+ To sketch my meaning roughly, examples of substance are 'man' or 'the
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+ horse', of quantity, such terms as 'two cubits long' or 'three cubits
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+ long', of quality, such attributes as 'white', 'grammatical'. 'Double',
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+ 'half', 'greater', fall under the category of relation; 'in the
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+ market place', 'in the Lyceum', under that of place; 'yesterday', 'last
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+ year', under that of time. 'Lying', 'sitting', are terms indicating
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+ position, 'shod', 'armed', state; 'to lance', 'to cauterize', action;
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+ 'to be lanced', 'to be cauterized', affection.
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+
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+ No one of these terms, in and by itself, involves an affirmation; it is
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+ by the combination of such terms that positive or negative statements
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+ arise. For every assertion must, as is admitted, be either true or
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+ false, whereas expressions which are not in any way composite such as
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+ 'man', 'white', 'runs', 'wins', cannot be either true or false.
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+
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+ Part 5
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+
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+ Substance, in the truest and primary and most definite sense of the
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+ word, is that which is neither predicable of a subject nor present in a
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+ subject; for instance, the individual man or horse. But in a secondary
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+ sense those things are called substances within which, as species, the
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+ primary substances are included; also those which, as genera, include
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+ the species. For instance, the individual man is included in the
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+ species 'man', and the genus to which the species belongs is 'animal';
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+ these, therefore--that is to say, the species 'man' and the genus
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+ 'animal,-are termed secondary substances.
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+
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+ It is plain from what has been said that both the name and the
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+ definition of the predicate must be predicable of the subject. For
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+ instance, 'man' is predicated of the individual man. Now in this case
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+ the name of the species 'man' is applied to the individual, for we use
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+ the term 'man' in describing the individual; and the definition of
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+ 'man' will also be predicated of the individual man, for the individual
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+ man is both man and animal. Thus, both the name and the definition of
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+ the species are predicable of the individual.
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+
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+ With regard, on the other hand, to those things which are present in a
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+ subject, it is generally the case that neither their name nor their
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+ definition is predicable of that in which they are present. Though,
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+ however, the definition is never predicable, there is nothing in
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+ certain cases to prevent the name being used. For instance, 'white'
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+ being present in a body is predicated of that in which it is present,
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+ for a body is called white: the definition, however, of the colour
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+ 'white' is never predicable of the body.
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+
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+ Everything except primary substances is either predicable of a primary
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+ substance or present in a primary substance. This becomes evident by
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+ reference to particular instances which occur. 'Animal' is predicated
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+ of the species 'man', therefore of the individual man, for if there
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+ were no individual man of whom it could be predicated, it could not be
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+ predicated of the species 'man' at all. Again, colour is present in
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+ body, therefore in individual bodies, for if there were no individual
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+ body in which it was present, it could not be present in body at all.
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+ Thus everything except primary substances is either predicated of
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+ primary substances, or is present in them, and if these last did not
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+ exist, it would be impossible for anything else to exist.
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+
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+ Of secondary substances, the species is more truly substance than the
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+ genus, being more nearly related to primary substance. For if any one
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+ should render an account of what a primary substance is, he would
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+ render a more instructive account, and one more proper to the subject,
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+ by stating the species than by stating the genus. Thus, he would give a
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+ more instructive account of an individual man by stating that he was
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+ man than by stating that he was animal, for the former description is
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+ peculiar to the individual in a greater degree, while the latter is too
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+ general. Again, the man who gives an account of the nature of an
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+ individual tree will give a more instructive account by mentioning the
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+ species 'tree' than by mentioning the genus 'plant'.
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+
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+ Moreover, primary substances are most properly called substances in
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+ virtue of the fact that they are the entities which underlie everything
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+ else, and that everything else is either predicated of them or present
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+ in them. Now the same relation which subsists between primary substance
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+ and everything else subsists also between the species and the genus:
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+ for the species is to the genus as subject is to predicate, since the
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+ genus is predicated of the species, whereas the species cannot be
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+ predicated of the genus. Thus we have a second ground for asserting
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+ that the species is more truly substance than the genus.
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+
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+ Of species themselves, except in the case of such as are genera, no one
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+ is more truly substance than another. We should not give a more
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+ appropriate account of the individual man by stating the species to
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+ which he belonged, than we should of an individual horse by adopting
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+ the same method of definition. In the same way, of primary substances,
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+ no one is more truly substance than another; an individual man is not
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+ more truly substance than an individual ox.
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+
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+ It is, then, with good reason that of all that remains, when we exclude
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+ primary substances, we concede to species and genera alone the name
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+ 'secondary substance', for these alone of all the predicates convey a
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+ knowledge of primary substance. For it is by stating the species or the
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+ genus that we appropriately define any individual man; and we shall
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+ make our definition more exact by stating the former than by stating
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+ the latter. All other things that we state, such as that he is white,
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+ that he runs, and so on, are irrelevant to the definition. Thus it is
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+ just that these alone, apart from primary substances, should be called
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+ substances.
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+
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+ Further, primary substances are most properly so called, because they
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+ underlie and are the subjects of everything else. Now the same relation
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+ that subsists between primary substance and everything else subsists
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+ also between the species and the genus to which the primary substance
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+ belongs, on the one hand, and every attribute which is not included
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+ within these, on the other. For these are the subjects of all such. If
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+ we call an individual man 'skilled in grammar', the predicate is
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+ applicable also to the species and to the genus to which he belongs.
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+ This law holds good in all cases.
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+
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+ It is a common characteristic of all substance that it is never present
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+ in a subject. For primary substance is neither present in a subject nor
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+ predicated of a subject; while, with regard to secondary substances, it
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+ is clear from the following arguments (apart from others) that they are
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+ not present in a subject. For 'man' is predicated of the individual
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+ man, but is not present in any subject: for manhood is not present in
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+ the individual man. In the same way, 'animal' is also predicated of the
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+ individual man, but is not present in him. Again, when a thing is
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+ present in a subject, though the name may quite well be applied to that
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+ in which it is present, the definition cannot be applied. Yet of
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+ secondary substances, not only the name, but also the definition,
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+ applies to the subject: we should use both the definition of the
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+ species and that of the genus with reference to the individual man.
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+ Thus substance cannot be present in a subject.
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+
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+ Yet this is not peculiar to substance, for it is also the case that
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+ differentiae cannot be present in subjects. The characteristics
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+ 'terrestrial' and 'two-footed' are predicated of the species 'man', but
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+ not present in it. For they are not in man. Moreover, the definition of
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+ the differentia may be predicated of that of which the differentia
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+ itself is predicated. For instance, if the characteristic 'terrestrial'
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+ is predicated of the species 'man', the definition also of that
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+ characteristic may be used to form the predicate of the species 'man':
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+ for 'man' is terrestrial.
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+
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+ The fact that the parts of substances appear to be present in the
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+ whole, as in a subject, should not make us apprehensive lest we should
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+ have to admit that such parts are not substances: for in explaining the
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+ phrase 'being present in a subject', we stated' that we meant
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+ 'otherwise than as parts in a whole'.
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+
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+ It is the mark of substances and of differentiae that, in all
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+ propositions of which they form the predicate, they are predicated
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+ univocally. For all such propositions have for their subject either the
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+ individual or the species. It is true that, inasmuch as primary
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+ substance is not predicable of anything, it can never form the
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+ predicate of any proposition. But of secondary substances, the species
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+ is predicated of the individual, the genus both of the species and of
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+ the individual. Similarly the differentiae are predicated of the
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+ species and of the individuals. Moreover, the definition of the species
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+ and that of the genus are applicable to the primary substance, and that
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+ of the genus to the species. For all that is predicated of the
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+ predicate will be predicated also of the subject. Similarly, the
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+ definition of the differentiae will be applicable to the species and to
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+ the individuals. But it was stated above that the word 'univocal' was
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+ applied to those things which had both name and definition in common.
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+ It is, therefore, established that in every proposition, of which
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+ either substance or a differentia forms the predicate, these are
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+ predicated univocally.
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+
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+ All substance appears to signify that which is individual. In the case
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+ of primary substance this is indisputably true, for the thing is a
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+ unit. In the case of secondary substances, when we speak, for instance,
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+ of 'man' or 'animal', our form of speech gives the impression that we
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+ are here also indicating that which is individual, but the impression
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+ is not strictly true; for a secondary substance is not an individual,
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+ but a class with a certain qualification; for it is not one and single
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+ as a primary substance is; the words 'man', 'animal', are predicable of
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+ more than one subject.
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+
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+ Yet species and genus do not merely indicate quality, like the term
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+ 'white'; 'white' indicates quality and nothing further, but species and
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+ genus determine the quality with reference to a substance: they signify
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+ substance qualitatively differentiated. The determinate qualification
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+ covers a larger field in the case of the genus that in that of the
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+ species: he who uses the word 'animal' is herein using a word of wider
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+ extension than he who uses the word 'man'.
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+
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+ Another mark of substance is that it has no contrary. What could be the
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+ contrary of any primary substance, such as the individual man or
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+ animal? It has none. Nor can the species or the genus have a contrary.
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+ Yet this characteristic is not peculiar to substance, but is true of
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+ many other things, such as quantity. There is nothing that forms the
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+ contrary of 'two cubits long' or of 'three cubits long', or of 'ten',
273
+ or of any such term. A man may contend that 'much' is the contrary of
274
+ 'little', or 'great' of 'small', but of definite quantitative terms no
275
+ contrary exists.
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+
277
+ Substance, again, does not appear to admit of variation of degree. I do
278
+ not mean by this that one substance cannot be more or less truly
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+ substance than another, for it has already been stated that this is
280
+ the case; but that no single substance admits of varying degrees within
281
+ itself. For instance, one particular substance, 'man', cannot be more
282
+ or less man either than himself at some other time or than some other
283
+ man. One man cannot be more man than another, as that which is white
284
+ may be more or less white than some other white object, or as that
285
+ which is beautiful may be more or less beautiful than some other
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+ beautiful object. The same quality, moreover, is said to subsist in a
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+ thing in varying degrees at different times. A body, being white, is
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+ said to be whiter at one time than it was before, or, being warm, is
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+ said to be warmer or less warm than at some other time. But substance
290
+ is not said to be more or less that which it is: a man is not more
291
+ truly a man at one time than he was before, nor is anything, if it is
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+ substance, more or less what it is. Substance, then, does not admit of
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+ variation of degree.
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+
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+ The most distinctive mark of substance appears to be that, while
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+ remaining numerically one and the same, it is capable of admitting
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+ contrary qualities. From among things other than substance, we should
298
+ find ourselves unable to bring forward any which possessed this mark.
299
+ Thus, one and the same colour cannot be white and black. Nor can the
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+ same one action be good and bad: this law holds good with everything
301
+ that is not substance. But one and the selfsame substance, while
302
+ retaining its identity, is yet capable of admitting contrary qualities.
303
+ The same individual person is at one time white, at another black, at
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+ one time warm, at another cold, at one time good, at another bad. This
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+ capacity is found nowhere else, though it might be maintained that a
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+ statement or opinion was an exception to the rule. The same statement,
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+ it is agreed, can be both true and false. For if the statement 'he is
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+ sitting' is true, yet, when the person in question has risen, the same
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+ statement will be false. The same applies to opinions. For if any one
310
+ thinks truly that a person is sitting, yet, when that person has risen,
311
+ this same opinion, if still held, will be false. Yet although this
312
+ exception may be allowed, there is, nevertheless, a difference in the
313
+ manner in which the thing takes place. It is by themselves changing
314
+ that substances admit contrary qualities. It is thus that that which
315
+ was hot becomes cold, for it has entered into a different state.
316
+ Similarly that which was white becomes black, and that which was bad
317
+ good, by a process of change; and in the same way in all other cases it
318
+ is by changing that substances are capable of admitting contrary
319
+ qualities. But statements and opinions themselves remain unaltered in
320
+ all respects: it is by the alteration in the facts of the case that the
321
+ contrary quality comes to be theirs. The statement 'he is sitting'
322
+ remains unaltered, but it is at one time true, at another false,
323
+ according to circumstances. What has been said of statements applies
324
+ also to opinions. Thus, in respect of the manner in which the thing
325
+ takes place, it is the peculiar mark of substance that it should be
326
+ capable of admitting contrary qualities; for it is by itself changing
327
+ that it does so.
328
+
329
+ If, then, a man should make this exception and contend that statements
330
+ and opinions are capable of admitting contrary qualities, his
331
+ contention is unsound. For statements and opinions are said to have
332
+ this capacity, not because they themselves undergo modification, but
333
+ because this modification occurs in the case of something else. The
334
+ truth or falsity of a statement depends on facts, and not on any power
335
+ on the part of the statement itself of admitting contrary qualities. In
336
+ short, there is nothing which can alter the nature of statements and
337
+ opinions. As, then, no change takes place in themselves, these cannot
338
+ be said to be capable of admitting contrary qualities.
339
+
340
+ But it is by reason of the modification which takes place within the
341
+ substance itself that a substance is said to be capable of admitting
342
+ contrary qualities; for a substance admits within itself either disease
343
+ or health, whiteness or blackness. It is in this sense that it is said
344
+ to be capable of admitting contrary qualities.
345
+
346
+ To sum up, it is a distinctive mark of substance, that, while remaining
347
+ numerically one and the same, it is capable of admitting contrary
348
+ qualities, the modification taking place through a change in the
349
+ substance itself.
350
+
351
+ Let these remarks suffice on the subject of substance.
352
+
353
+ Part 6
354
+
355
+ Quantity is either discrete or continuous. Moreover, some quantities
356
+ are such that each part of the whole has a relative position to the
357
+ other parts: others have within them no such relation of part to part.
358
+
359
+ Instances of discrete quantities are number and speech; of continuous,
360
+ lines, surfaces, solids, and, besides these, time and place.
361
+
362
+ In the case of the parts of a number, there is no common boundary at
363
+ which they join. For example: two fives make ten, but the two fives
364
+ have no common boundary, but are separate; the parts three and seven
365
+ also do not join at any boundary. Nor, to generalize, would it ever be
366
+ possible in the case of number that there should be a common boundary
367
+ among the parts; they are always separate. Number, therefore, is a
368
+ discrete quantity.
369
+
370
+ The same is true of speech. That speech is a quantity is evident: for
371
+ it is measured in long and short syllables. I mean here that speech
372
+ which is vocal. Moreover, it is a discrete quantity for its parts have
373
+ no common boundary. There is no common boundary at which the syllables
374
+ join, but each is separate and distinct from the rest.
375
+
376
+ A line, on the other hand, is a continuous quantity, for it is possible
377
+ to find a common boundary at which its parts join. In the case of the
378
+ line, this common boundary is the point; in the case of the plane, it
379
+ is the line: for the parts of the plane have also a common boundary.
380
+ Similarly you can find a common boundary in the case of the parts of a
381
+ solid, namely either a line or a plane.
382
+
383
+ Space and time also belong to this class of quantities. Time, past,
384
+ present, and future, forms a continuous whole. Space, likewise, is a
385
+ continuous quantity; for the parts of a solid occupy a certain space,
386
+ and these have a common boundary; it follows that the parts of space
387
+ also, which are occupied by the parts of the solid, have the same
388
+ common boundary as the parts of the solid. Thus, not only time, but
389
+ space also, is a continuous quantity, for its parts have a common
390
+ boundary.
391
+
392
+ Quantities consist either of parts which bear a relative position each
393
+ to each, or of parts which do not. The parts of a line bear a relative
394
+ position to each other, for each lies somewhere, and it would be
395
+ possible to distinguish each, and to state the position of each on the
396
+ plane and to explain to what sort of part among the rest each was
397
+ contiguous. Similarly the parts of a plane have position, for it could
398
+ similarly be stated what was the position of each and what sort of
399
+ parts were contiguous. The same is true with regard to the solid and to
400
+ space. But it would be impossible to show that the parts of a number had
401
+ a relative position each to each, or a particular position, or to state
402
+ what parts were contiguous. Nor could this be done in the case of time,
403
+ for none of the parts of time has an abiding existence, and that which
404
+ does not abide can hardly have position. It would be better to say that
405
+ such parts had a relative order, in virtue of one being prior to
406
+ another. Similarly with number: in counting, 'one' is prior to 'two',
407
+ and 'two' to 'three', and thus the parts of number may be said to
408
+ possess a relative order, though it would be impossible to discover any
409
+ distinct position for each. This holds good also in the case of speech.
410
+ None of its parts has an abiding existence: when once a syllable is
411
+ pronounced, it is not possible to retain it, so that, naturally, as the
412
+ parts do not abide, they cannot have position. Thus, some quantities
413
+ consist of parts which have position, and some of those which have not.
414
+
415
+ Strictly speaking, only the things which I have mentioned belong to the
416
+ category of quantity: everything else that is called quantitative is a
417
+ quantity in a secondary sense. It is because we have in mind some one
418
+ of these quantities, properly so called, that we apply quantitative
419
+ terms to other things. We speak of what is white as large, because the
420
+ surface over which the white extends is large; we speak of an action or
421
+ a process as lengthy, because the time covered is long; these things
422
+ cannot in their own right claim the quantitative epithet. For instance,
423
+ should any one explain how long an action was, his statement would be
424
+ made in terms of the time taken, to the effect that it lasted a year,
425
+ or something of that sort. In the same way, he would explain the size
426
+ of a white object in terms of surface, for he would state the area
427
+ which it covered. Thus the things already mentioned, and these alone,
428
+ are in their intrinsic nature quantities; nothing else can claim the
429
+ name in its own right, but, if at all, only in a secondary sense.
430
+
431
+ Quantities have no contraries. In the case of definite quantities this
432
+ is obvious; thus, there is nothing that is the contrary of 'two cubits
433
+ long' or of 'three cubits long', or of a surface, or of any such
434
+ quantities. A man might, indeed, argue that 'much' was the contrary of
435
+ 'little', and 'great' of 'small'. But these are not quantitative, but
436
+ relative; things are not great or small absolutely, they are so called
437
+ rather as the result of an act of comparison. For instance, a mountain
438
+ is called small, a grain large, in virtue of the fact that the latter
439
+ is greater than others of its kind, the former less. Thus there is a
440
+ reference here to an external standard, for if the terms 'great' and
441
+ 'small' were used absolutely, a mountain would never be called small or
442
+ a grain large. Again, we say that there are many people in a village,
443
+ and few in Athens, although those in the city are many times as
444
+ numerous as those in the village: or we say that a house has many in
445
+ it, and a theatre few, though those in the theatre far outnumber those
446
+ in the house. The terms 'two cubits long', 'three cubits long', and so
447
+ on indicate quantity, the terms 'great' and 'small' indicate relation,
448
+ for they have reference to an external standard. It is, therefore,
449
+ plain that these are to be classed as relative.
450
+
451
+ Again, whether we define them as quantitative or not, they have no
452
+ contraries: for how can there be a contrary of an attribute which is
453
+ not to be apprehended in or by itself, but only by reference to
454
+ something external? Again, if 'great' and 'small' are contraries, it
455
+ will come about that the same subject can admit contrary qualities at
456
+ one and the same time, and that things will themselves be contrary to
457
+ themselves. For it happens at times that the same thing is both small
458
+ and great. For the same thing may be small in comparison with one
459
+ thing, and great in comparison with another, so that the same thing
460
+ comes to be both small and great at one and the same time, and is of
461
+ such a nature as to admit contrary qualities at one and the same
462
+ moment. Yet it was agreed, when substance was being discussed, that
463
+ nothing admits contrary qualities at one and the same moment. For
464
+ though substance is capable of admitting contrary qualities, yet no one
465
+ is at the same time both sick and healthy, nothing is at the same time
466
+ both white and black. Nor is there anything which is qualified in
467
+ contrary ways at one and the same time.
468
+
469
+ Moreover, if these were contraries, they would themselves be contrary
470
+ to themselves. For if 'great' is the contrary of 'small', and the same
471
+ thing is both great and small at the same time, then 'small' or 'great'
472
+ is the contrary of itself. But this is impossible. The term 'great',
473
+ therefore, is not the contrary of the term 'small', nor 'much' of
474
+ 'little'. And even though a man should call these terms not relative
475
+ but quantitative, they would not have contraries.
476
+
477
+ It is in the case of space that quantity most plausibly appears to
478
+ admit of a contrary. For men define the term 'above' as the contrary of
479
+ 'below', when it is the region at the centre they mean by 'below'; and
480
+ this is so, because nothing is farther from the extremities of the
481
+ universe than the region at the centre. Indeed, it seems that in
482
+ defining contraries of every kind men have recourse to a spatial
483
+ metaphor, for they say that those things are contraries which, within
484
+ the same class, are separated by the greatest possible distance.
485
+
486
+ Quantity does not, it appears, admit of variation of degree. One thing
487
+ cannot be two cubits long in a greater degree than another. Similarly
488
+ with regard to number: what is 'three' is not more truly three than
489
+ what is 'five' is five; nor is one set of three more truly three than
490
+ another set. Again, one period of time is not said to be more truly
491
+ time than another. Nor is there any other kind of quantity, of all that
492
+ have been mentioned, with regard to which variation of degree can be
493
+ predicated. The category of quantity, therefore, does not admit of
494
+ variation of degree.
495
+
496
+ The most distinctive mark of quantity is that equality and inequality
497
+ are predicated of it. Each of the aforesaid quantities is said to be
498
+ equal or unequal. For instance, one solid is said to be equal or
499
+ unequal to another; number, too, and time can have these terms applied
500
+ to them, indeed can all those kinds of quantity that have been
501
+ mentioned.
502
+
503
+ That which is not a quantity can by no means, it would seem, be termed
504
+ equal or unequal to anything else. One particular disposition or one
505
+ particular quality, such as whiteness, is by no means compared with
506
+ another in terms of equality and inequality but rather in terms of
507
+ similarity. Thus it is the distinctive mark of quantity that it can be
508
+ called equal and unequal.
509
+
510
+ Section 2
511
+
512
+ Part 7
513
+
514
+ Those things are called relative, which, being either said to be of
515
+ something else or related to something else, are explained by reference
516
+ to that other thing. For instance, the word 'superior' is explained by
517
+ reference to something else, for it is superiority over something else
518
+ that is meant. Similarly, the expression 'double' has this external
519
+ reference, for it is the double of something else that is meant. So it
520
+ is with everything else of this kind. There are, moreover, other
521
+ relatives, e.g. habit, disposition, perception, knowledge, and
522
+ attitude. The significance of all these is explained by a reference to
523
+ something else and in no other way. Thus, a habit is a habit of
524
+ something, knowledge is knowledge of something, attitude is the
525
+ attitude of something. So it is with all other relatives that have been
526
+ mentioned. Those terms, then, are called relative, the nature of which
527
+ is explained by reference to something else, the preposition 'of' or
528
+ some other preposition being used to indicate the relation. Thus, one
529
+ mountain is called great in comparison with another; for the
530
+ mountain claims this attribute by comparison with something. Again,
531
+ that which is called similar must be similar to something else, and all
532
+ other such attributes have this external reference. It is to be noted
533
+ that lying and standing and sitting are particular attitudes, but
534
+ attitude is itself a relative term. To lie, to stand, to be seated, are
535
+ not themselves attitudes, but take their name from the aforesaid
536
+ attitudes.
537
+
538
+ It is possible for relatives to have contraries. Thus virtue has a
539
+ contrary, vice, these both being relatives; knowledge, too, has a
540
+ contrary, ignorance. But this is not the mark of all relatives;
541
+ 'double' and 'triple' have no contrary, nor indeed has any such term.
542
+
543
+ It also appears that relatives can admit of variation of degree. For
544
+ 'like' and 'unlike', 'equal' and 'unequal', have the modifications
545
+ 'more' and 'less' applied to them, and each of these is relative in
546
+ character: for the terms 'like' and 'unequal' bear a
547
+ reference to something external. Yet, again, it is not every relative
548
+ term that admits of variation of degree. No term such as 'double'
549
+ admits of this modification. All relatives have correlatives: by the
550
+ term 'slave' we mean the slave of a master, by the term 'master', the
551
+ master of a slave; by 'double', the double of its half; by 'half', the
552
+ half of its double; by 'greater', greater than that which is less; by
553
+ 'less', less than that which is greater.
554
+
555
+ So it is with every other relative term; but the case we use to express
556
+ the correlation differs in some instances. Thus, by knowledge we mean
557
+ knowledge of the knowable; by the knowable, that which is to be
558
+ apprehended by knowledge; by perception, perception of the perceptible;
559
+ by the perceptible, that which is apprehended by perception.
560
+
561
+ Sometimes, however, reciprocity of correlation does not appear to
562
+ exist. This comes about when a blunder is made, and that to which the
563
+ relative is related is not accurately stated. If a man states that a
564
+ wing is necessarily relative to a bird, the connexion between these two
565
+ will not be reciprocal, for it will not be possible to say that a bird
566
+ is a bird by reason of its wings. The reason is that the original
567
+ statement was inaccurate, for the wing is not said to be relative to
568
+ the bird qua bird, since many creatures besides birds have wings, but
569
+ qua winged creature. If, then, the statement is made accurate, the
570
+ connexion will be reciprocal, for we can speak of a wing, having
571
+ reference necessarily to a winged creature, and of a winged creature as
572
+ being such because of its wings.
573
+
574
+ Occasionally, perhaps, it is necessary to coin words, if no word exists
575
+ by which a correlation can adequately be explained. If we define a
576
+ rudder as necessarily having reference to a boat, our definition will
577
+ not be appropriate, for the rudder does not have this reference to a
578
+ boat qua boat, as there are boats which have no rudders. Thus we cannot
579
+ use the terms reciprocally, for the word 'boat' cannot be said to find
580
+ its explanation in the word 'rudder'. As there is no existing word, our
581
+ definition would perhaps be more accurate if we coined some word like
582
+ 'ruddered' as the correlative of 'rudder'. If we express ourselves thus
583
+ accurately, at any rate the terms are reciprocally connected, for the
584
+ 'ruddered' thing is 'ruddered' in virtue of its rudder. So it is in all
585
+ other cases. A head will be more accurately defined as the correlative
586
+ of that which is 'headed', than as that of an animal, for the animal
587
+ does not have a head qua animal, since many animals have no head.
588
+
589
+ Thus we may perhaps most easily comprehend that to which a thing is
590
+ related, when a name does not exist, if, from that which has a name, we
591
+ derive a new name, and apply it to that with which the first is
592
+ reciprocally connected, as in the aforesaid instances, when we derived
593
+ the word 'winged' from 'wing' and from 'rudder'.
594
+
595
+ All relatives, then, if properly defined, have a correlative. I add
596
+ this condition because, if that to which they are related is stated as
597
+ haphazard and not accurately, the two are not found to be
598
+ interdependent. Let me state what I mean more clearly. Even in the case
599
+ of acknowledged correlatives, and where names exist for each, there
600
+ will be no interdependence if one of the two is denoted, not by that
601
+ name which expresses the correlative notion, but by one of irrelevant
602
+ significance. The term 'slave', if defined as related, not to a master,
603
+ but to a man, or a biped, or anything of that sort, is not reciprocally
604
+ connected with that in relation to which it is defined, for the
605
+ statement is not exact. Further, if one thing is said to be correlative
606
+ with another, and the terminology used is correct, then, though all
607
+ irrelevant attributes should be removed, and only that one attribute
608
+ left in virtue of which it was correctly stated to be correlative with
609
+ that other, the stated correlation will still exist. If the correlative
610
+ of 'the slave' is said to be 'the master', then, though all irrelevant
611
+ attributes of the said 'master', such as 'biped', 'receptive of
612
+ knowledge', 'human', should be removed, and the attribute 'master'
613
+ alone left, the stated correlation existing between him and the slave
614
+ will remain the same, for it is of a master that a slave is said to be
615
+ the slave. On the other hand, if, of two correlatives, one is not
616
+ correctly termed, then, when all other attributes are removed and that
617
+ alone is left in virtue of which it was stated to be correlative, the
618
+ stated correlation will be found to have disappeared.
619
+
620
+ For suppose the correlative of 'the slave' should be said to be 'the
621
+ man', or the correlative of 'the wing' is 'the bird'; if the attribute
622
+ 'master' be withdrawn from 'the man', the correlation between 'the man'
623
+ and 'the slave' will cease to exist, for if the man is not a master,
624
+ the slave is not a slave. Similarly, if the attribute 'winged' be
625
+ withdrawn from 'the bird', 'the wing' will no longer be relative; for
626
+ if the so-called correlative is not winged, it follows that 'the wing'
627
+ has no correlative.
628
+
629
+ Thus it is essential that the correlated terms should be exactly
630
+ designated; if there is a name existing, the statement will be easy; if
631
+ not, it is doubtless our duty to construct names. When the terminology
632
+ is thus correct, it is evident that all correlatives are interdependent.
633
+
634
+ Correlatives are thought to come into existence simultaneously. This is
635
+ for the most part true, as in the case of the double and the half. The
636
+ existence of the half necessitates the existence of that of which it is
637
+ a half. Similarly the existence of a master necessitates the existence
638
+ of a slave, and that of a slave implies that of a master; these are
639
+ merely instances of a general rule. Moreover, they cancel one another;
640
+ for if there is no double it follows that there is no half, and vice
641
+ versa; this rule also applies to all such correlatives. Yet it does not
642
+ appear to be true in all cases that correlatives come into existence
643
+ simultaneously. The object of knowledge would appear to exist before
644
+ knowledge itself, for it is usually the case that we acquire knowledge
645
+ of objects already existing; it would be difficult, if not impossible,
646
+ to find a branch of knowledge the beginning of the existence of which
647
+ was contemporaneous with that of its object.
648
+
649
+ Again, while the object of knowledge, if it ceases to exist, cancels at
650
+ the same time the knowledge which was its correlative, the converse of
651
+ this is not true. It is true that if the object of knowledge does not
652
+ exist there can be no knowledge: for there will no longer be anything
653
+ to know. Yet it is equally true that, if knowledge of a certain object
654
+ does not exist, the object may nevertheless quite well exist. Thus, in
655
+ the case of the squaring of the circle, if indeed that process is an
656
+ object of knowledge, though it itself exists as an object of knowledge,
657
+ yet the knowledge of it has not yet come into existence. Again, if all
658
+ animals ceased to exist, there would be no knowledge, but there might
659
+ yet be many objects of knowledge.
660
+
661
+ This is likewise the case with regard to perception: for the object of
662
+ perception is, it appears, prior to the act of perception. If the
663
+ perceptible is annihilated, perception also will cease to exist; but
664
+ the annihilation of perception does not cancel the existence of the
665
+ perceptible. For perception implies a body perceived and a body in
666
+ which perception takes place. Now if that which is perceptible is
667
+ annihilated, it follows that the body is annihilated, for the body is a
668
+ perceptible thing; and if the body does not exist, it follows that
669
+ perception also ceases to exist. Thus the annihilation of the
670
+ perceptible involves that of perception.
671
+
672
+ But the annihilation of perception does not involve that of the
673
+ perceptible. For if the animal is annihilated, it follows that
674
+ perception also is annihilated, but perceptibles such as body, heat,
675
+ sweetness, bitterness, and so on, will remain.
676
+
677
+ Again, perception is generated at the same time as the perceiving
678
+ subject, for it comes into existence at the same time as the animal.
679
+ But the perceptible surely exists before perception; for fire and water
680
+ and such elements, out of which the animal is itself composed, exist
681
+ before the animal is an animal at all, and before perception. Thus it
682
+ would seem that the perceptible exists before perception.
683
+
684
+ It may be questioned whether it is true that no substance is relative,
685
+ as seems to be the case, or whether exception is to be made in the case
686
+ of certain secondary substances. With regard to primary substances, it
687
+ is quite true that there is no such possibility, for neither wholes nor
688
+ parts of primary substances are relative. The individual man or ox is
689
+ not defined with reference to something external. Similarly with the
690
+ parts: a particular hand or head is not defined as a particular hand or
691
+ head of a particular person, but as the hand or head of a particular
692
+ person. It is true also, for the most part at least, in the case of
693
+ secondary substances; the species 'man' and the species 'ox' are not
694
+ defined with reference to anything outside themselves. Wood, again, is
695
+ only relative in so far as it is some one's property, not in so far as
696
+ it is wood. It is plain, then, that in the cases mentioned substance is
697
+ not relative. But with regard to some secondary substances there is a
698
+ difference of opinion; thus, such terms as 'head' and 'hand' are
699
+ defined with reference to that of which the things indicated are a
700
+ part, and so it comes about that these appear to have a relative
701
+ character. Indeed, if our definition of that which is relative was
702
+ complete, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to prove that no
703
+ substance is relative. If, however, our definition was not complete, if
704
+ those things only are properly called relative in the case of which
705
+ relation to an external object is a necessary condition of existence,
706
+ perhaps some explanation of the dilemma may be found.
707
+
708
+ The former definition does indeed apply to all relatives, but the fact
709
+ that a thing is explained with reference to something else does not
710
+ make it essentially relative.
711
+
712
+ From this it is plain that, if a man definitely apprehends a relative
713
+ thing, he will also definitely apprehend that to which it is relative.
714
+ Indeed this is self-evident: for if a man knows that some particular
715
+ thing is relative, assuming that we call that a relative in the case of
716
+ which relation to something is a necessary condition of existence, he
717
+ knows that also to which it is related. For if he does not know at all
718
+ that to which it is related, he will not know whether or not it is
719
+ relative. This is clear, moreover, in particular instances. If a man
720
+ knows definitely that such and such a thing is 'double', he will also
721
+ forthwith know definitely that of which it is the double. For if there
722
+ is nothing definite of which he knows it to be the double, he does not
723
+ know at all that it is double. Again, if he knows that a thing is more
724
+ beautiful, it follows necessarily that he will forthwith definitely
725
+ know that also than which it is more beautiful. He will not merely know
726
+ indefinitely that it is more beautiful than something which is less
727
+ beautiful, for this would be supposition, not knowledge. For if he does
728
+ not know definitely that than which it is more beautiful, he can no
729
+ longer claim to know definitely that it is more beautiful than
730
+ something else which is less beautiful: for it might be that nothing
731
+ was less beautiful. It is, therefore, evident that if a man apprehends
732
+ some relative thing definitely, he necessarily knows that also
733
+ definitely to which it is related.
734
+
735
+ Now the head, the hand, and such things are substances, and it is
736
+ possible to know their essential character definitely, but it does not
737
+ necessarily follow that we should know that to which they are related.
738
+ It is not possible to know forthwith whose head or hand is meant. Thus
739
+ these are not relatives, and, this being the case, it would be true to
740
+ say that no substance is relative in character. It is perhaps a
741
+ difficult matter, in such cases, to make a positive statement without
742
+ more exhaustive examination, but to have raised questions with regard
743
+ to details is not without advantage.
744
+
745
+ Part 8
746
+
747
+ By 'quality' I mean that in virtue of which people are said to be such
748
+ and such.
749
+
750
+ Quality is a term that is used in many senses. One sort of quality let
751
+ us call 'habit' or 'disposition'. Habit differs from disposition in
752
+ being more lasting and more firmly established. The various kinds of
753
+ knowledge and of virtue are habits, for knowledge, even when acquired
754
+ only in a moderate degree, is, it is agreed, abiding in its character
755
+ and difficult to displace, unless some great mental upheaval takes
756
+ place, through disease or any such cause. The virtues, also, such as
757
+ justice, self-restraint, and so on, are not easily dislodged or
758
+ dismissed, so as to give place to vice.
759
+
760
+ By a disposition, on the other hand, we mean a condition that is easily
761
+ changed and quickly gives place to its opposite. Thus, heat, cold,
762
+ disease, health, and so on are dispositions. For a man is disposed in
763
+ one way or another with reference to these, but quickly changes,
764
+ becoming cold instead of warm, ill instead of well. So it is with all
765
+ other dispositions also, unless through lapse of time a disposition has
766
+ itself become inveterate and almost impossible to dislodge: in which
767
+ case we should perhaps go so far as to call it a habit.
768
+
769
+ It is evident that men incline to call those conditions habits which
770
+ are of a more or less permanent type and difficult to displace; for
771
+ those who are not retentive of knowledge, but volatile, are not said to
772
+ have such and such a 'habit' as regards knowledge, yet they are
773
+ disposed, we may say, either better or worse, towards knowledge. Thus
774
+ habit differs from disposition in this, that while the latter in
775
+ ephemeral, the former is permanent and difficult to alter.
776
+
777
+ Habits are at the same time dispositions, but dispositions are not
778
+ necessarily habits. For those who have some specific habit may be said
779
+ also, in virtue of that habit, to be thus or thus disposed; but those
780
+ who are disposed in some specific way have not in all cases the
781
+ corresponding habit.
782
+
783
+ Another sort of quality is that in virtue of which, for example, we
784
+ call men good boxers or runners, or healthy or sickly: in fact it
785
+ includes all those terms which refer to inborn capacity or incapacity.
786
+ Such things are not predicated of a person in virtue of his
787
+ disposition, but in virtue of his inborn capacity or incapacity to do
788
+ something with ease or to avoid defeat of any kind. Persons are called
789
+ good boxers or good runners, not in virtue of such and such a
790
+ disposition, but in virtue of an inborn capacity to accomplish
791
+ something with ease. Men are called healthy in virtue of the inborn
792
+ capacity of easy resistance to those unhealthy influences that may
793
+ ordinarily arise; unhealthy, in virtue of the lack of this capacity.
794
+ Similarly with regard to softness and hardness. Hardness is predicated
795
+ of a thing because it has that capacity of resistance which enables it
796
+ to withstand disintegration; softness, again, is predicated of a thing
797
+ by reason of the lack of that capacity.
798
+
799
+ A third class within this category is that of affective qualities and
800
+ affections. Sweetness, bitterness, sourness, are examples of this sort
801
+ of quality, together with all that is akin to these; heat, moreover,
802
+ and cold, whiteness, and blackness are affective qualities. It is
803
+ evident that these are qualities, for those things that possess them
804
+ are themselves said to be such and such by reason of their presence.
805
+ Honey is called sweet because it contains sweetness; the body is called
806
+ white because it contains whiteness; and so in all other cases.
807
+
808
+ The term 'affective quality' is not used as indicating that those
809
+ things which admit these qualities are affected in any way. Honey is
810
+ not called sweet because it is affected in a specific way, nor is this
811
+ what is meant in any other instance. Similarly heat and cold are called
812
+ affective qualities, not because those things which admit them are
813
+ affected. What is meant is that these said qualities are capable of
814
+ producing an 'affection' in the way of perception. For sweetness has
815
+ the power of affecting the sense of taste; heat, that of touch; and so
816
+ it is with the rest of these qualities.
817
+
818
+ Whiteness and blackness, however, and the other colours, are not said
819
+ to be affective qualities in this sense, but because they themselves
820
+ are the results of an affection. It is plain that many changes of
821
+ colour take place because of affections. When a man is ashamed, he
822
+ blushes; when he is afraid, he becomes pale, and so on. So true is
823
+ this, that when a man is by nature liable to such affections, arising
824
+ from some concomitance of elements in his constitution, it is a
825
+ probable inference that he has the corresponding complexion of skin.
826
+ For the same disposition of bodily elements, which in the former
827
+ instance was momentarily present in the case of an access of shame,
828
+ might be a result of a man's natural temperament, so as to produce the
829
+ corresponding colouring also as a natural characteristic. All
830
+ conditions, therefore, of this kind, if caused by certain permanent and
831
+ lasting affections, are called affective qualities. For pallor and
832
+ duskiness of complexion are called qualities, inasmuch as we are said
833
+ to be such and such in virtue of them, not only if they originate in
834
+ natural constitution, but also if they come about through long disease
835
+ or sunburn, and are difficult to remove, or indeed remain throughout
836
+ life. For in the same way we are said to be such and such because of
837
+ these.
838
+
839
+ Those conditions, however, which arise from causes which may easily be
840
+ rendered ineffective or speedily removed, are called, not qualities,
841
+ but affections: for we are not said to be such in virtue of them. The man
842
+ who blushes through shame is not said to be a constitutional blusher,
843
+ nor is the man who becomes pale through fear said to be
844
+ constitutionally pale. He is said rather to have been affected.
845
+
846
+ Thus such conditions are called affections, not qualities. In like
847
+ manner there are affective qualities and affections of the soul. That
848
+ temper with which a man is born and which has its origin in certain
849
+ deep-seated affections is called a quality. I mean such conditions as
850
+ insanity, irascibility, and so on: for people are said to be mad or
851
+ irascible in virtue of these. Similarly those abnormal psychic states
852
+ which are not inborn, but arise from the concomitance of certain other
853
+ elements, and are difficult to remove, or altogether permanent, are
854
+ called qualities, for in virtue of them men are said to be such and
855
+ such.
856
+
857
+ Those, however, which arise from causes easily rendered ineffective are
858
+ called affections, not qualities. Suppose that a man is irritable when
859
+ vexed: he is not even spoken of as a bad-tempered man, when in such
860
+ circumstances he loses his temper somewhat, but rather is said to be
861
+ affected. Such conditions are therefore termed, not qualities, but
862
+ affections.
863
+
864
+ The fourth sort of quality is figure and the shape that belongs to a
865
+ thing; and besides this, straightness and curvedness and any other
866
+ qualities of this type; each of these defines a thing as being such and
867
+ such. Because it is triangular or quadrangular a thing is said to have
868
+ a specific character, or again because it is straight or curved; in
869
+ fact a thing's shape in every case gives rise to a qualification of it.
870
+
871
+ Rarity and density, roughness and smoothness, seem to be terms
872
+ indicating quality: yet these, it would appear, really belong to a
873
+ class different from that of quality. For it is rather a certain
874
+ relative position of the parts composing the thing thus qualified
875
+ which, it appears, is indicated by each of these terms. A thing is
876
+ dense, owing to the fact that its parts are closely combined with one
877
+ another; rare, because there are interstices between the parts; smooth,
878
+ because its parts lie, so to speak, evenly; rough, because some parts
879
+ project beyond others.
880
+
881
+ There may be other sorts of quality, but those that are most properly
882
+ so called have, we may safely say, been enumerated.
883
+
884
+ These, then, are qualities, and the things that take their name from
885
+ them as derivatives, or are in some other way dependent on them, are
886
+ said to be qualified in some specific way. In most, indeed in almost
887
+ all cases, the name of that which is qualified is derived from that of
888
+ the quality. Thus the terms 'whiteness', 'grammar', 'justice', give us
889
+ the adjectives 'white', 'grammatical', 'just', and so on.
890
+
891
+ There are some cases, however, in which, as the quality under
892
+ consideration has no name, it is impossible that those possessed of it
893
+ should have a name that is derivative. For instance, the name given to
894
+ the runner or boxer, who is so called in virtue of an inborn capacity,
895
+ is not derived from that of any quality; for both those capacities have
896
+ no name assigned to them. In this, the inborn capacity is distinct from
897
+ the science, with reference to which men are called, e.g. boxers or
898
+ wrestlers. Such a science is classed as a disposition; it has a name,
899
+ and is called 'boxing' or 'wrestling' as the case may be, and the name
900
+ given to those disposed in this way is derived from that of the
901
+ science. Sometimes, even though a name exists for the quality, that
902
+ which takes its character from the quality has a name that is not a
903
+ derivative. For instance, the upright man takes his character from the
904
+ possession of the quality of integrity, but the name given him is not
905
+ derived from the word 'integrity'. Yet this does not occur often.
906
+
907
+ We may therefore state that those things are said to be possessed of
908
+ some specific quality which have a name derived from that of the
909
+ aforesaid quality, or which are in some other way dependent on it.
910
+
911
+ One quality may be the contrary of another; thus justice is the
912
+ contrary of injustice, whiteness of blackness, and so on. The things,
913
+ also, which are said to be such and such in virtue of these qualities,
914
+ may be contrary the one to the other; for that which is unjust is
915
+ contrary to that which is just, that which is white to that which is
916
+ black. This, however, is not always the case. Red, yellow, and such
917
+ colours, though qualities, have no contraries.
918
+
919
+ If one of two contraries is a quality, the other will also be a
920
+ quality. This will be evident from particular instances, if we apply
921
+ the names used to denote the other categories; for instance, granted
922
+ that justice is the contrary of injustice and justice is a quality,
923
+ injustice will also be a quality: neither quantity, nor relation, nor
924
+ place, nor indeed any other category but that of quality, will be
925
+ applicable properly to injustice. So it is with all other contraries
926
+ falling under the category of quality.
927
+
928
+ Qualities admit of variation of degree. Whiteness is predicated of one
929
+ thing in a greater or less degree than of another. This is also the
930
+ case with reference to justice. Moreover, one and the same thing may
931
+ exhibit a quality in a greater degree than it did before: if a thing is
932
+ white, it may become whiter.
933
+
934
+ Though this is generally the case, there are exceptions. For if we
935
+ should say that justice admitted of variation of degree, difficulties
936
+ might ensue, and this is true with regard to all those qualities which
937
+ are dispositions. There are some, indeed, who dispute the possibility
938
+ of variation here. They maintain that justice and health cannot very
939
+ well admit of variation of degree themselves, but that people vary in
940
+ the degree in which they possess these qualities, and that this is the
941
+ case with grammatical learning and all those qualities which are
942
+ classed as dispositions. However that may be, it is an incontrovertible
943
+ fact that the things which in virtue of these qualities are said to be
944
+ what they are vary in the degree in which they possess them; for one
945
+ man is said to be better versed in grammar, or more healthy or just,
946
+ than another, and so on.
947
+
948
+ The qualities expressed by the terms 'triangular' and 'quadrangular' do
949
+ not appear to admit of variation of degree, nor indeed do any that have
950
+ to do with figure. For those things to which the definition of the
951
+ triangle or circle is applicable are all equally triangular or
952
+ circular. Those, on the other hand, to which the same definition is not
953
+ applicable, cannot be said to differ from one another in degree; the
954
+ square is no more a circle than the rectangle, for to neither is the
955
+ definition of the circle appropriate. In short, if the definition of
956
+ the term proposed is not applicable to both objects, they cannot be
957
+ compared. Thus it is not all qualities which admit of variation of
958
+ degree.
959
+
960
+ Whereas none of the characteristics I have mentioned are peculiar to
961
+ quality, the fact that likeness and unlikeness can be predicated with
962
+ reference to quality only, gives to that category its distinctive
963
+ feature. One thing is like another only with reference to that in
964
+ virtue of which it is such and such; thus this forms the peculiar mark
965
+ of quality.
966
+
967
+ We must not be disturbed because it may be argued that, though
968
+ proposing to discuss the category of quality, we have included in it
969
+ many relative terms. We did say that habits and dispositions were
970
+ relative. In practically all such cases the genus is relative, the
971
+ individual not. Thus knowledge, as a genus, is explained by reference
972
+ to something else, for we mean a knowledge of something. But particular
973
+ branches of knowledge are not thus explained. The knowledge of grammar
974
+ is not relative to anything external, nor is the knowledge of music,
975
+ but these, if relative at all, are relative only in virtue of their
976
+ genera; thus grammar is said be the knowledge of something, not the
977
+ grammar of something; similarly music is the knowledge of something,
978
+ not the music of something.
979
+
980
+ Thus individual branches of knowledge are not relative. And it is
981
+ because we possess these individual branches of knowledge that we are
982
+ said to be such and such. It is these that we actually possess: we are
983
+ called experts because we possess knowledge in some particular branch.
984
+ Those particular branches, therefore, of knowledge, in virtue of which
985
+ we are sometimes said to be such and such, are themselves qualities,
986
+ and are not relative. Further, if anything should happen to fall within
987
+ both the category of quality and that of relation, there would be
988
+ nothing extraordinary in classing it under both these heads.
989
+
990
+ Section 3
991
+
992
+ Part 9
993
+
994
+ Action and affection both admit of contraries and also of variation of
995
+ degree. Heating is the contrary of cooling, being heated of being
996
+ cooled, being glad of being vexed. Thus they admit of contraries. They
997
+ also admit of variation of degree: for it is possible to heat in a
998
+ greater or less degree; also to be heated in a greater or less degree.
999
+ Thus action and affection also admit of variation of degree. So much,
1000
+ then, is stated with regard to these categories.
1001
+
1002
+ We spoke, moreover, of the category of position when we were dealing
1003
+ with that of relation, and stated that such terms derived their names
1004
+ from those of the corresponding attitudes.
1005
+
1006
+ As for the rest, time, place, state, since they are easily
1007
+ intelligible, I say no more about them than was said at the beginning,
1008
+ that in the category of state are included such states as 'shod',
1009
+ 'armed', in that of place 'in the Lyceum' and so on, as was explained
1010
+ before.
1011
+
1012
+ Part 10
1013
+
1014
+ The proposed categories have, then, been adequately dealt with. We must
1015
+ next explain the various senses in which the term 'opposite' is used.
1016
+ Things are said to be opposed in four senses: (i) as correlatives to
1017
+ one another, (ii) as contraries to one another, (iii) as privatives to
1018
+ positives, (iv) as affirmatives to negatives.
1019
+
1020
+ Let me sketch my meaning in outline. An instance of the use of the word
1021
+ 'opposite' with reference to correlatives is afforded by the
1022
+ expressions 'double' and 'half'; with reference to contraries by 'bad'
1023
+ and 'good'. Opposites in the sense of 'privatives' and 'positives' are
1024
+ 'blindness' and 'sight'; in the sense of affirmatives and negatives, the
1025
+ propositions 'he sits', 'he does not sit'.
1026
+
1027
+ (i) Pairs of opposites which fall under the category of relation are
1028
+ explained by a reference of the one to the other, the reference being
1029
+ indicated by the preposition 'of' or by some other preposition. Thus,
1030
+ double is a relative term, for that which is double is explained as the
1031
+ double of something. Knowledge, again, is the opposite of the thing
1032
+ known, in the same sense; and the thing known also is explained by its
1033
+ relation to its opposite, knowledge. For the thing known is explained
1034
+ as that which is known by something, that is, by knowledge. Such
1035
+ things, then, as are opposite the one to the other in the sense of
1036
+ being correlatives are explained by a reference of the one to the other.
1037
+
1038
+ (ii) Pairs of opposites which are contraries are not in any way
1039
+ interdependent, but are contrary the one to the other. The good is not
1040
+ spoken of as the good of the bad, but as the contrary of the bad, nor
1041
+ is white spoken of as the white of the black, but as the contrary of
1042
+ the black. These two types of opposition are therefore distinct. Those
1043
+ contraries which are such that the subjects in which they are naturally
1044
+ present, or of which they are predicated, must necessarily contain
1045
+ either the one or the other of them, have no intermediate, but those in
1046
+ the case of which no such necessity obtains, always have an
1047
+ intermediate. Thus disease and health are naturally present in the body
1048
+ of an animal, and it is necessary that either the one or the other
1049
+ should be present in the body of an animal. Odd and even, again, are
1050
+ predicated of number, and it is necessary that the one or the other
1051
+ should be present in numbers. Now there is no intermediate between the
1052
+ terms of either of these two pairs. On the other hand, in those
1053
+ contraries with regard to which no such necessity obtains, we find an
1054
+ intermediate. Blackness and whiteness are naturally present in the
1055
+ body, but it is not necessary that either the one or the other should
1056
+ be present in the body, inasmuch as it is not true to say that
1057
+ everybody must be white or black. Badness and goodness, again, are
1058
+ predicated of man, and of many other things, but it is not necessary
1059
+ that either the one quality or the other should be present in that of
1060
+ which they are predicated: it is not true to say that everything that
1061
+ may be good or bad must be either good or bad. These pairs of
1062
+ contraries have intermediates: the intermediates between white and
1063
+ black are grey, sallow, and all the other colours that come between;
1064
+ the intermediate between good and bad is that which is neither the one
1065
+ nor the other.
1066
+
1067
+ Some intermediate qualities have names, such as grey and sallow and all
1068
+ the other colours that come between white and black; in other cases,
1069
+ however, it is not easy to name the intermediate, but we must define it
1070
+ as that which is not either extreme, as in the case of that which is
1071
+ neither good nor bad, neither just nor unjust.
1072
+
1073
+ (iii) 'privatives' and 'positives' have reference to the same subject.
1074
+ Thus, sight and blindness have reference to the eye. It is a universal
1075
+ rule that each of a pair of opposites of this type has reference to
1076
+ that to which the particular 'positive' is natural. We say that that is
1077
+ capable of some particular faculty or possession has suffered privation
1078
+ when the faculty or possession in question is in no way present in that
1079
+ in which, and at the time at which, it should naturally be present. We
1080
+ do not call that toothless which has not teeth, or that blind which has
1081
+ not sight, but rather that which has not teeth or sight at the time
1082
+ when by nature it should. For there are some creatures which from birth
1083
+ are without sight, or without teeth, but these are not called toothless
1084
+ or blind.
1085
+
1086
+ To be without some faculty or to possess it is not the same as the
1087
+ corresponding 'privative' or 'positive'. 'Sight' is a 'positive',
1088
+ 'blindness' a 'privative', but 'to possess sight' is not equivalent to
1089
+ 'sight', 'to be blind' is not equivalent to 'blindness'. Blindness is a
1090
+ 'privative', to be blind is to be in a state of privation, but is not a
1091
+ 'privative'. Moreover, if 'blindness' were equivalent to 'being blind',
1092
+ both would be predicated of the same subject; but though a man is said
1093
+ to be blind, he is by no means said to be blindness.
1094
+
1095
+ To be in a state of 'possession' is, it appears, the opposite of being
1096
+ in a state of 'privation', just as 'positives' and 'privatives'
1097
+ themselves are opposite. There is the same type of antithesis in both
1098
+ cases; for just as blindness is opposed to sight, so is being blind
1099
+ opposed to having sight.
1100
+
1101
+ That which is affirmed or denied is not itself affirmation or denial.
1102
+ By 'affirmation' we mean an affirmative proposition, by 'denial' a
1103
+ negative. Now, those facts which form the matter of the affirmation or
1104
+ denial are not propositions; yet these two are said to be opposed in
1105
+ the same sense as the affirmation and denial, for in this case also the
1106
+ type of antithesis is the same. For as the affirmation is opposed to
1107
+ the denial, as in the two propositions 'he sits', 'he does not sit', so
1108
+ also the fact which constitutes the matter of the proposition in one
1109
+ case is opposed to that in the other, his sitting, that is to say, to
1110
+ his not sitting.
1111
+
1112
+ It is evident that 'positives' and 'privatives' are not opposed each to
1113
+ each in the same sense as relatives. The one is not explained by
1114
+ reference to the other; sight is not sight of blindness, nor is any
1115
+ other preposition used to indicate the relation. Similarly blindness is
1116
+ not said to be blindness of sight, but rather, privation of sight.
1117
+ Relatives, moreover, reciprocate; if blindness, therefore, were a
1118
+ relative, there would be a reciprocity of relation between it and that
1119
+ with which it was correlative. But this is not the case. Sight is not
1120
+ called the sight of blindness.
1121
+
1122
+ That those terms which fall under the heads of 'positives' and
1123
+ 'privatives' are not opposed each to each as contraries, either, is
1124
+ plain from the following facts: Of a pair of contraries such that they
1125
+ have no intermediate, one or the other must needs be present in the
1126
+ subject in which they naturally subsist, or of which they are
1127
+ predicated; for it is those, as we proved, in the case of which this
1128
+ necessity obtains, that have no intermediate. Moreover, we cited health
1129
+ and disease, odd and even, as instances. But those contraries which
1130
+ have an intermediate are not subject to any such necessity. It is not
1131
+ necessary that every substance, receptive of such qualities, should be
1132
+ either black or white, cold or hot, for something intermediate between
1133
+ these contraries may very well be present in the subject. We proved,
1134
+ moreover, that those contraries have an intermediate in the case of
1135
+ which the said necessity does not obtain. Yet when one of the two
1136
+ contraries is a constitutive property of the subject, as it is a
1137
+ constitutive property of fire to be hot, of snow to be white, it is
1138
+ necessary determinately that one of the two contraries, not one or the
1139
+ other, should be present in the subject; for fire cannot be cold, or
1140
+ snow black. Thus, it is not the case here that one of the two must
1141
+ needs be present in every subject receptive of these qualities, but
1142
+ only in that subject of which the one forms a constitutive property.
1143
+ Moreover, in such cases it is one member of the pair determinately, and
1144
+ not either the one or the other, which must be present.
1145
+
1146
+ In the case of 'positives' and 'privatives', on the other hand, neither
1147
+ of the aforesaid statements holds good. For it is not necessary that a
1148
+ subject receptive of the qualities should always have either the one or
1149
+ the other; that which has not yet advanced to the state when sight is
1150
+ natural is not said either to be blind or to see. Thus 'positives' and
1151
+ 'privatives' do not belong to that class of contraries which consists
1152
+ of those which have no intermediate. On the other hand, they do not
1153
+ belong either to that class which consists of contraries which have an
1154
+ intermediate. For under certain conditions it is necessary that either
1155
+ the one or the other should form part of the constitution of every
1156
+ appropriate subject. For when a thing has reached the stage when it is
1157
+ by nature capable of sight, it will be said either to see or to be
1158
+ blind, and that in an indeterminate sense, signifying that the capacity
1159
+ may be either present or absent; for it is not necessary either that it
1160
+ should see or that it should be blind, but that it should be either in
1161
+ the one state or in the other. Yet in the case of those contraries
1162
+ which have an intermediate we found that it was never necessary that
1163
+ either the one or the other should be present in every appropriate
1164
+ subject, but only that in certain subjects one of the pair should be
1165
+ present, and that in a determinate sense. It is, therefore, plain that
1166
+ 'positives' and 'privatives' are not opposed each to each in either of
1167
+ the senses in which contraries are opposed.
1168
+
1169
+ Again, in the case of contraries, it is possible that there should be
1170
+ changes from either into the other, while the subject retains its
1171
+ identity, unless indeed one of the contraries is a constitutive
1172
+ property of that subject, as heat is of fire. For it is possible that
1173
+ that that which is healthy should become diseased, that which is white,
1174
+ black, that which is cold, hot, that which is good, bad, that which is
1175
+ bad, good. The bad man, if he is being brought into a better way of
1176
+ life and thought, may make some advance, however slight, and if he
1177
+ should once improve, even ever so little, it is plain that he might
1178
+ change completely, or at any rate make very great progress; for a man
1179
+ becomes more and more easily moved to virtue, however small the
1180
+ improvement was at first. It is, therefore, natural to suppose that he
1181
+ will make yet greater progress than he has made in the past; and as
1182
+ this process goes on, it will change him completely and establish him
1183
+ in the contrary state, provided he is not hindered by lack of time. In
1184
+ the case of 'positives' and 'privatives', however, change in both
1185
+ directions is impossible. There may be a change from possession to
1186
+ privation, but not from privation to possession. The man who has become
1187
+ blind does not regain his sight; the man who has become bald does not
1188
+ regain his hair; the man who has lost his teeth does not grow a new
1189
+ set.
1190
+
1191
+ (iv) Statements opposed as affirmation and negation belong
1192
+ manifestly to a class which is distinct, for in this case, and in this
1193
+ case only, it is necessary for the one opposite to be true and the
1194
+ other false.
1195
+
1196
+ Neither in the case of contraries, nor in the case of correlatives, nor
1197
+ in the case of 'positives' and 'privatives', is it necessary for one to
1198
+ be true and the other false. Health and disease are contraries: neither
1199
+ of them is true or false. 'Double' and 'half' are opposed to each other
1200
+ as correlatives: neither of them is true or false. The case is the
1201
+ same, of course, with regard to 'positives' and 'privatives' such as
1202
+ 'sight' and 'blindness'. In short, where there is no sort of
1203
+ combination of words, truth and falsity have no place, and all the
1204
+ opposites we have mentioned so far consist of simple words.
1205
+
1206
+ At the same time, when the words which enter into opposed statements
1207
+ are contraries, these, more than any other set of opposites, would seem
1208
+ to claim this characteristic. 'Socrates is ill' is the contrary of
1209
+ 'Socrates is well', but not even of such composite expressions is it
1210
+ true to say that one of the pair must always be true and the other
1211
+ false. For if Socrates exists, one will be true and the other false,
1212
+ but if he does not exist, both will be false; for neither 'Socrates is
1213
+ ill' nor 'Socrates is well' is true, if Socrates does not exist at all.
1214
+
1215
+ In the case of 'positives' and 'privatives', if the subject does not
1216
+ exist at all, neither proposition is true, but even if the subject
1217
+ exists, it is not always the fact that one is true and the other false.
1218
+ For 'Socrates has sight' is the opposite of 'Socrates is blind' in the
1219
+ sense of the word 'opposite' which applies to possession and privation.
1220
+ Now if Socrates exists, it is not necessary that one should be true and
1221
+ the other false, for when he is not yet able to acquire the power of
1222
+ vision, both are false, as also if Socrates is altogether non-existent.
1223
+
1224
+ But in the case of affirmation and negation, whether the subject exists
1225
+ or not, one is always false and the other true. For manifestly, if
1226
+ Socrates exists, one of the two propositions 'Socrates is ill',
1227
+ 'Socrates is not ill', is true, and the other false. This is likewise
1228
+ the case if he does not exist; for if he does not exist, to say that he
1229
+ is ill is false, to say that he is not ill is true. Thus it is in the
1230
+ case of those opposites only, which are opposite in the sense in which
1231
+ the term is used with reference to affirmation and negation, that the
1232
+ rule holds good, that one of the pair must be true and the other false.
1233
+
1234
+ Part 11
1235
+
1236
+ That the contrary of a good is an evil is shown by induction: the
1237
+ contrary of health is disease, of courage, cowardice, and so on. But
1238
+ the contrary of an evil is sometimes a good, sometimes an evil. For
1239
+ defect, which is an evil, has excess for its contrary, this also being
1240
+ an evil, and the mean, which is a good, is equally the contrary of the
1241
+ one and of the other. It is only in a few cases, however, that we see
1242
+ instances of this: in most, the contrary of an evil is a good.
1243
+
1244
+ In the case of contraries, it is not always necessary that if one
1245
+ exists the other should also exist: for if all become healthy there
1246
+ will be health and no disease, and again, if everything turns white,
1247
+ there will be white, but no black. Again, since the fact that Socrates
1248
+ is ill is the contrary of the fact that Socrates is well, and two
1249
+ contrary conditions cannot both obtain in one and the same individual
1250
+ at the same time, both these contraries could not exist at once: for if
1251
+ that Socrates was well was a fact, then that Socrates was ill could not
1252
+ possibly be one.
1253
+
1254
+ It is plain that contrary attributes must needs be present in subjects
1255
+ which belong to the same species or genus. Disease and health require
1256
+ as their subject the body of an animal; white and black require a body,
1257
+ without further qualification; justice and injustice require as their
1258
+ subject the human soul.
1259
+
1260
+ Moreover, it is necessary that pairs of contraries should in all cases
1261
+ either belong to the same genus or belong to contrary genera or be
1262
+ themselves genera. White and black belong to the same genus, colour;
1263
+ justice and injustice, to contrary genera, virtue and vice; while good
1264
+ and evil do not belong to genera, but are themselves actual genera,
1265
+ with terms under them.
1266
+
1267
+ Part 12
1268
+
1269
+ There are four senses in which one thing can be said to be 'prior' to
1270
+ another. Primarily and most properly the term has reference to time: in
1271
+ this sense the word is used to indicate that one thing is older or more
1272
+ ancient than another, for the expressions 'older' and 'more ancient'
1273
+ imply greater length of time.
1274
+
1275
+ Secondly, one thing is said to be 'prior' to another when the sequence
1276
+ of their being cannot be reversed. In this sense 'one' is 'prior' to
1277
+ 'two'. For if 'two' exists, it follows directly that 'one' must exist,
1278
+ but if 'one' exists, it does not follow necessarily that 'two' exists:
1279
+ thus the sequence subsisting cannot be reversed. It is agreed, then,
1280
+ that when the sequence of two things cannot be reversed, then that one
1281
+ on which the other depends is called 'prior' to that other.
1282
+
1283
+ In the third place, the term 'prior' is used with reference to any
1284
+ order, as in the case of science and of oratory. For in sciences which
1285
+ use demonstration there is that which is prior and that which is
1286
+ posterior in order; in geometry, the elements are prior to the
1287
+ propositions; in reading and writing, the letters of the alphabet are
1288
+ prior to the syllables. Similarly, in the case of speeches, the
1289
+ exordium is prior in order to the narrative.
1290
+
1291
+ Besides these senses of the word, there is a fourth. That which is
1292
+ better and more honourable is said to have a natural priority. In
1293
+ common parlance men speak of those whom they honour and love as 'coming
1294
+ first' with them. This sense of the word is perhaps the most
1295
+ far-fetched.
1296
+
1297
+ Such, then, are the different senses in which the term 'prior' is used.
1298
+
1299
+ Yet it would seem that besides those mentioned there is yet another.
1300
+ For in those things, the being of each of which implies that of the
1301
+ other, that which is in any way the cause may reasonably be said to be
1302
+ by nature 'prior' to the effect. It is plain that there are instances
1303
+ of this. The fact of the being of a man carries with it the truth of
1304
+ the proposition that he is, and the implication is reciprocal: for if a
1305
+ man is, the proposition wherein we allege that he is true, and
1306
+ conversely, if the proposition wherein we allege that he is true, then
1307
+ he is. The true proposition, however, is in no way the cause of the
1308
+ being of the man, but the fact of the man's being does seem somehow to
1309
+ be the cause of the truth of the proposition, for the truth or falsity
1310
+ of the proposition depends on the fact of the man's being or not being.
1311
+
1312
+ Thus the word 'prior' may be used in five senses.
1313
+
1314
+ Part 13
1315
+
1316
+ The term 'simultaneous' is primarily and most appropriately applied to
1317
+ those things the genesis of the one of which is simultaneous with that
1318
+ of the other; for in such cases neither is prior or posterior to the
1319
+ other. Such things are said to be simultaneous in point of time. Those
1320
+ things, again, are 'simultaneous' in point of nature, the being of each
1321
+ of which involves that of the other, while at the same time neither is
1322
+ the cause of the other's being. This is the case with regard to the
1323
+ double and the half, for these are reciprocally dependent, since, if
1324
+ there is a double, there is also a half, and if there is a half, there
1325
+ is also a double, while at the same time neither is the cause of the
1326
+ being of the other.
1327
+
1328
+ Again, those species which are distinguished one from another and
1329
+ opposed one to another within the same genus are said to be
1330
+ 'simultaneous' in nature. I mean those species which are distinguished
1331
+ each from each by one and the same method of division. Thus the
1332
+ 'winged' species is simultaneous with the 'terrestrial' and the 'water'
1333
+ species. These are distinguished within the same genus, and are opposed
1334
+ each to each, for the genus 'animal' has the 'winged', the
1335
+ 'terrestrial', and the 'water' species, and no one of these is prior or
1336
+ posterior to another; on the contrary, all such things appear to be
1337
+ 'simultaneous' in nature. Each of these also, the terrestrial, the
1338
+ winged, and the water species, can be divided again into subspecies.
1339
+ Those species, then, also will be 'simultaneous' in point of nature,
1340
+ which, belonging to the same genus, are distinguished each from each by
1341
+ one and the same method of differentiation.
1342
+
1343
+ But genera are prior to species, for the sequence of their being cannot
1344
+ be reversed. If there is the species 'water-animal', there will be the
1345
+ genus 'animal', but granted the being of the genus 'animal', it does
1346
+ not follow necessarily that there will be the species 'water-animal'.
1347
+
1348
+ Those things, therefore, are said to be 'simultaneous' in nature, the
1349
+ being of each of which involves that of the other, while at the same
1350
+ time neither is in any way the cause of the other's being; those
1351
+ species, also, which are distinguished each from each and opposed
1352
+ within the same genus. Those things, moreover, are 'simultaneous' in
1353
+ the unqualified sense of the word which come into being at the same
1354
+ time.
1355
+
1356
+ Part 14
1357
+
1358
+ There are six sorts of movement: generation, destruction, increase,
1359
+ diminution, alteration, and change of place.
1360
+
1361
+ It is evident in all but one case that all these sorts of movement are
1362
+ distinct each from each. Generation is distinct from destruction,
1363
+ increase and change of place from diminution, and so on. But in the
1364
+ case of alteration it may be argued that the process necessarily
1365
+ implies one or other of the other five sorts of motion. This is not
1366
+ true, for we may say that all affections, or nearly all, produce in us
1367
+ an alteration which is distinct from all other sorts of motion, for
1368
+ that which is affected need not suffer either increase or diminution or
1369
+ any of the other sorts of motion. Thus alteration is a distinct sort of
1370
+ motion; for, if it were not, the thing altered would not only be
1371
+ altered, but would forthwith necessarily suffer increase or diminution
1372
+ or some one of the other sorts of motion in addition; which as a matter
1373
+ of fact is not the case. Similarly that which was undergoing the
1374
+ process of increase or was subject to some other sort of motion would,
1375
+ if alteration were not a distinct form of motion, necessarily be
1376
+ subject to alteration also. But there are some things which undergo
1377
+ increase but yet not alteration. The square, for instance, if a gnomon
1378
+ is applied to it, undergoes increase but not alteration, and so it is
1379
+ with all other figures of this sort. Alteration and increase,
1380
+ therefore, are distinct.
1381
+
1382
+ Speaking generally, rest is the contrary of motion. But the different
1383
+ forms of motion have their own contraries in other forms; thus
1384
+ destruction is the contrary of generation, diminution of increase, rest
1385
+ in a place, of change of place. As for this last, change in the reverse
1386
+ direction would seem to be most truly its contrary; thus motion upwards
1387
+ is the contrary of motion downwards and vice versa.
1388
+
1389
+ In the case of that sort of motion which yet remains, of those that
1390
+ have been enumerated, it is not easy to state what is its contrary. It
1391
+ appears to have no contrary, unless one should define the contrary here
1392
+ also either as 'rest in its quality' or as 'change in the direction of
1393
+ the contrary quality', just as we defined the contrary of change of
1394
+ place either as rest in a place or as change in the reverse direction.
1395
+ For a thing is altered when change of quality takes place; therefore
1396
+ either rest in its quality or change in the direction of the contrary
1397
+ may be called the contrary of this qualitative form of motion. In this
1398
+ way becoming white is the contrary of becoming black; there is
1399
+ alteration in the contrary direction, since a change of a qualitative
1400
+ nature takes place.
1401
+
1402
+ Part 15
1403
+
1404
+ The term 'to have' is used in various senses. In the first place it is
1405
+ used with reference to habit or disposition or any other quality, for
1406
+ we are said to 'have' a piece of knowledge or a virtue. Then, again, it
1407
+ has reference to quantity, as, for instance, in the case of a man's
1408
+ height; for he is said to 'have' a height of three or four cubits. It
1409
+ is used, moreover, with regard to apparel, a man being said to 'have' a
1410
+ coat or tunic; or in respect of something which we have on a part of
1411
+ ourselves, as a ring on the hand: or in respect of something which is a
1412
+ part of us, as hand or foot. The term refers also to content, as in the
1413
+ case of a vessel and wheat, or of a jar and wine; a jar is said to
1414
+ 'have' wine, and a corn-measure wheat. The expression in such cases has
1415
+ reference to content. Or it refers to that which has been acquired; we
1416
+ are said to 'have' a house or a field. A man is also said to 'have' a
1417
+ wife, and a wife a husband, and this appears to be the most remote
1418
+ meaning of the term, for by the use of it we mean simply that the
1419
+ husband lives with the wife.
1420
+
1421
+ Other senses of the word might perhaps be found, but the most ordinary
1422
+ ones have all been enumerated.
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1
+ Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer
2
+
3
+ THE POETICS OF ARISTOTLE
4
+
5
+ By Aristotle
6
+
7
+ A Translation By S. H. Butcher
8
+
9
+ [Transcriber's Annotations and Conventions: the translator left
10
+ intact some Greek words to illustrate a specific point of the original
11
+ discourse. In this transcription, in order to retain the accuracy of
12
+ this text, those words are rendered by spelling out each Greek letter
13
+ individually, such as {alpha beta gamma delta...}. The reader can
14
+ distinguish these words by the enclosing braces {}. Where multiple
15
+ words occur together, they are separated by the "/" symbol for clarity.
16
+ Readers who do not speak or read the Greek language will usually neither
17
+ gain nor lose understanding by skipping over these passages. Those who
18
+ understand Greek, however, may gain a deeper insight to the original
19
+ meaning and distinctions expressed by Aristotle.]
20
+
21
+ Analysis of Contents
22
+
23
+ I 'Imitation' the common principle of the Arts of Poetry.
24
+ II The Objects of Imitation.
25
+ III The Manner of Imitation.
26
+ IV The Origin and Development of Poetry.
27
+ V Definition of the Ludicrous, and a brief sketch of the rise of
28
+ Comedy.
29
+ VI Definition of Tragedy.
30
+ VII The Plot must be a Whole.
31
+ VIII The Plot must be a Unity.
32
+ IX (Plot continued.) Dramatic Unity.
33
+ X (Plot continued.) Definitions of Simple and Complex Plots.
34
+ XI (Plot continued.) Reversal of the Situation, Recognition, and
35
+ Tragic or disastrous Incident defined and explained.
36
+ XII The 'quantitative parts' of Tragedy defined.
37
+ XIII (Plot continued.) What constitutes Tragic Action.
38
+ XIV (Plot continued.) The tragic emotions of pity and fear should
39
+ spring out of the Plot itself.
40
+ XV The element of Character in Tragedy.
41
+ XVI (Plot continued.) Recognition: its various kinds, with examples.
42
+ XVII Practical rules for the Tragic Poet.
43
+ XVIII Further rules for the Tragic Poet.
44
+ XIX Thought, or the Intellectual element, and Diction in Tragedy.
45
+ XX Diction, or Language in general.
46
+ XXI Poetic Diction.
47
+ XXII (Poetic Diction continued.) How Poetry combines elevation of
48
+ language with perspicuity.
49
+ XXIII Epic Poetry.
50
+ XXIV (Epic Poetry continued.) Further points of agreement with Tragedy.
51
+ XXV Critical Objections brought against Poetry, and the principles on
52
+ which they are to be answered.
53
+ XXVI A general estimate of the comparative worth of Epic Poetry and
54
+ Tragedy.
55
+
56
+ ARISTOTLE'S POETICS
57
+
58
+ I
59
+
60
+ I propose to treat of Poetry in itself and of its various kinds, noting
61
+ the essential quality of each; to inquire into the structure of the plot
62
+ as requisite to a good poem; into the number and nature of the parts of
63
+ which a poem is composed; and similarly into whatever else falls within
64
+ the same inquiry. Following, then, the order of nature, let us begin
65
+ with the principles which come first.
66
+
67
+ Epic poetry and Tragedy, Comedy also and Dithyrambic: poetry, and the
68
+ music of the flute and of the lyre in most of their forms, are all in
69
+ their general conception modes of imitation. They differ, however, from
70
+ one: another in three respects,--the medium, the objects, the manner or
71
+ mode of imitation, being in each case distinct.
72
+
73
+ For as there are persons who, by conscious art or mere habit, imitate
74
+ and represent various objects through the medium of colour and form, or
75
+ again by the voice; so in the arts above mentioned, taken as a whole,
76
+ the imitation is produced by rhythm, language, or 'harmony,' either
77
+ singly or combined.
78
+
79
+ Thus in the music of the flute and of the lyre, 'harmony' and rhythm
80
+ alone are employed; also in other arts, such as that of the shepherd's
81
+ pipe, which are essentially similar to these. In dancing, rhythm alone
82
+ is used without 'harmony'; for even dancing imitates character, emotion,
83
+ and action, by rhythmical movement.
84
+
85
+ There is another art which imitates by means of language alone, and
86
+ that either in prose or verse--which, verse, again, may either combine
87
+ different metres or consist of but one kind--but this has hitherto been
88
+ without a name. For there is no common term we could apply to the mimes
89
+ of Sophron and Xenarchus and the Socratic dialogues on the one hand;
90
+ and, on the other, to poetic imitations in iambic, elegiac, or any
91
+ similar metre. People do, indeed, add the word 'maker' or 'poet' to
92
+ the name of the metre, and speak of elegiac poets, or epic (that is,
93
+ hexameter) poets, as if it were not the imitation that makes the poet,
94
+ but the verse that entitles them all indiscriminately to the name. Even
95
+ when a treatise on medicine or natural science is brought out in verse,
96
+ the name of poet is by custom given to the author; and yet Homer and
97
+ Empedocles have nothing in common but the metre, so that it would be
98
+ right to call the one poet, the other physicist rather than poet. On the
99
+ same principle, even if a writer in his poetic imitation were to combine
100
+ all metres, as Chaeremon did in his Centaur, which is a medley composed
101
+ of metres of all kinds, we should bring him too under the general term
102
+ poet. So much then for these distinctions.
103
+
104
+ There are, again, some arts which employ all the means above mentioned,
105
+ namely, rhythm, tune, and metre. Such are Dithyrambic and Nomic poetry,
106
+ and also Tragedy and Comedy; but between them the difference is, that in
107
+ the first two cases these means are all employed in combination, in the
108
+ latter, now one means is employed, now another.
109
+
110
+ Such, then, are the differences of the arts with respect to the medium
111
+ of imitation.
112
+
113
+ II
114
+
115
+ Since the objects of imitation are men in action, and these men must be
116
+ either of a higher or a lower type (for moral character mainly answers
117
+ to these divisions, goodness and badness being the distinguishing marks
118
+ of moral differences), it follows that we must represent men either as
119
+ better than in real life, or as worse, or as they are. It is the same
120
+ in painting. Polygnotus depicted men as nobler than they are, Pauson as
121
+ less noble, Dionysius drew them true to life.
122
+
123
+ Now it is evident that each of the modes of imitation above mentioned
124
+ will exhibit these differences, and become a distinct kind in imitating
125
+ objects that are thus distinct. Such diversities may be found even in
126
+ dancing, flute-playing, and lyre-playing. So again in language, whether
127
+ prose or verse unaccompanied by music. Homer, for example, makes men
128
+ better than they are; Cleophon as they are; Hegemon the Thasian, the
129
+ inventor of parodies, and Nicochares, the author of the Deiliad, worse
130
+ than they are. The same thing holds good of Dithyrambs and Nomes;
131
+ here too one may portray different types, as Timotheus and Philoxenus
132
+ differed in representing their Cyclopes. The same distinction marks
133
+ off Tragedy from Comedy; for Comedy aims at representing men as worse,
134
+ Tragedy as better than in actual life.
135
+
136
+ III
137
+
138
+ There is still a third difference--the manner in which each of these
139
+ objects may be imitated. For the medium being the same, and the objects
140
+ the same, the poet may imitate by narration--in which case he can either
141
+ take another personality as Homer does, or speak in his own person,
142
+ unchanged--or he may present all his characters as living and moving
143
+ before us.
144
+
145
+ These, then, as we said at the beginning, are the three differences
146
+ which distinguish artistic imitation,--the medium, the objects, and the
147
+ manner. So that from one point of view, Sophocles is an imitator of the
148
+ same kind as Homer--for both imitate higher types of character; from
149
+ another point of view, of the same kind as Aristophanes--for both
150
+ imitate persons acting and doing. Hence, some say, the name of 'drama'
151
+ is given to such poems, as representing action. For the same reason the
152
+ Dorians claim the invention both of Tragedy and Comedy. The claim to
153
+ Comedy is put forward by the Megarians,--not only by those of Greece
154
+ proper, who allege that it originated under their democracy, but also
155
+ by the Megarians of Sicily, for the poet Epicharmus, who is much earlier
156
+ than Chionides and Magnes, belonged to that country. Tragedy too is
157
+ claimed by certain Dorians of the Peloponnese. In each case they appeal
158
+ to the evidence of language. The outlying villages, they say, are by
159
+ them called {kappa omega mu alpha iota}, by the Athenians {delta eta
160
+ mu iota}: and they assume that Comedians were so named not from {kappa
161
+ omega mu 'alpha zeta epsilon iota nu}, 'to revel,' but because they
162
+ wandered from village to village (kappa alpha tau alpha / kappa omega mu
163
+ alpha sigma), being excluded contemptuously from the city. They add
164
+ also that the Dorian word for 'doing' is {delta rho alpha nu}, and the
165
+ Athenian, {pi rho alpha tau tau epsilon iota nu}.
166
+
167
+ This may suffice as to the number and nature of the various modes of
168
+ imitation.
169
+
170
+ IV
171
+
172
+ Poetry in general seems to have sprung from two causes, each of them
173
+ lying deep in our nature. First, the instinct of imitation is implanted
174
+ in man from childhood, one difference between him and other animals
175
+ being that he is the most imitative of living creatures, and through
176
+ imitation learns his earliest lessons; and no less universal is the
177
+ pleasure felt in things imitated. We have evidence of this in the facts
178
+ of experience. Objects which in themselves we view with pain, we delight
179
+ to contemplate when reproduced with minute fidelity: such as the forms
180
+ of the most ignoble animals and of dead bodies. The cause of this again
181
+ is, that to learn gives the liveliest pleasure, not only to philosophers
182
+ but to men in general; whose capacity, however, of learning is more
183
+ limited. Thus the reason why men enjoy seeing a likeness is, that in
184
+ contemplating it they find themselves learning or inferring, and saying
185
+ perhaps, 'Ah, that is he.' For if you happen not to have seen the
186
+ original, the pleasure will be due not to the imitation as such, but to
187
+ the execution, the colouring, or some such other cause.
188
+
189
+ Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature. Next, there is the
190
+ instinct for 'harmony' and rhythm, metres being manifestly sections of
191
+ rhythm. Persons, therefore, starting with this natural gift developed
192
+ by degrees their special aptitudes, till their rude improvisations gave
193
+ birth to Poetry.
194
+
195
+ Poetry now diverged in two directions, according to the individual
196
+ character of the writers. The graver spirits imitated noble actions, and
197
+ the actions of good men. The more trivial sort imitated the actions of
198
+ meaner persons, at first composing satires, as the former did hymns to
199
+ the gods and the praises of famous men. A poem of the satirical kind
200
+ cannot indeed be put down to any author earlier than Homer; though many
201
+ such writers probably there were. But from Homer onward, instances
202
+ can be cited,--his own Margites, for example, and other similar
203
+ compositions. The appropriate metre was also here introduced; hence the
204
+ measure is still called the iambic or lampooning measure, being that
205
+ in which people lampooned one another. Thus the older poets were
206
+ distinguished as writers of heroic or of lampooning verse.
207
+
208
+ As, in the serious style, Homer is pre-eminent among poets, for he alone
209
+ combined dramatic form with excellence of imitation, so he too first
210
+ laid down the main lines of Comedy, by dramatising the ludicrous instead
211
+ of writing personal satire. His Margites bears the same relation to
212
+ Comedy that the Iliad and Odyssey do to Tragedy. But when Tragedy and
213
+ Comedy came to light, the two classes of poets still followed their
214
+ natural bent: the lampooners became writers of Comedy, and the Epic
215
+ poets were succeeded by Tragedians, since the drama was a larger and
216
+ higher form of art.
217
+
218
+ Whether Tragedy has as yet perfected its proper types or not; and
219
+ whether it is to be judged in itself, or in relation also to the
220
+ audience,--this raises another question. Be that as it may, Tragedy--as
221
+ also Comedy--was at first mere improvisation. The one originated with
222
+ the authors of the Dithyramb, the other with those of the phallic songs,
223
+ which are still in use in many of our cities. Tragedy advanced by slow
224
+ degrees; each new element that showed itself was in turn developed.
225
+ Having passed through many changes, it found its natural form, and there
226
+ it stopped.
227
+
228
+ Aeschylus first introduced a second actor; he diminished the importance
229
+ of the Chorus, and assigned the leading part to the dialogue. Sophocles
230
+ raised the number of actors to three, and added scene-painting.
231
+ Moreover, it was not till late that the short plot was discarded for
232
+ one of greater compass, and the grotesque diction of the earlier satyric
233
+ form for the stately manner of Tragedy. The iambic measure then replaced
234
+ the trochaic tetrameter, which was originally employed when the poetry
235
+ was of the Satyric order, and had greater affinities with dancing. Once
236
+ dialogue had come in, Nature herself discovered the appropriate measure.
237
+ For the iambic is, of all measures, the most colloquial: we see it
238
+ in the fact that conversational speech runs into iambic lines more
239
+ frequently than into any other kind of verse; rarely into hexameters,
240
+ and only when we drop the colloquial intonation. The additions to
241
+ the number of 'episodes' or acts, and the other accessories of which
242
+ tradition; tells, must be taken as already described; for to discuss
243
+ them in detail would, doubtless, be a large undertaking.
244
+
245
+ V
246
+
247
+ Comedy is, as we have said, an imitation of characters of a lower type,
248
+ not, however, in the full sense of the word bad, the Ludicrous being
249
+ merely a subdivision of the ugly. It consists in some defect or ugliness
250
+ which is not painful or destructive. To take an obvious example, the
251
+ comic mask is ugly and distorted, but does not imply pain.
252
+
253
+ The successive changes through which Tragedy passed, and the authors
254
+ of these changes, are well known, whereas Comedy has had no history,
255
+ because it was not at first treated seriously. It was late before the
256
+ Archon granted a comic chorus to a poet; the performers were till then
257
+ voluntary. Comedy had already taken definite shape when comic poets,
258
+ distinctively so called, are heard of. Who furnished it with masks, or
259
+ prologues, or increased the number of actors,--these and other similar
260
+ details remain unknown. As for the plot, it came originally from
261
+ Sicily; but of Athenian writers Crates was the first who, abandoning the
262
+ 'iambic' or lampooning form, generalised his themes and plots.
263
+
264
+ Epic poetry agrees with Tragedy in so far as it is an imitation in verse
265
+ of characters of a higher type. They differ, in that Epic poetry admits
266
+ but one kind of metre, and is narrative in form. They differ, again,
267
+ in their length: for Tragedy endeavours, as far as possible, to confine
268
+ itself to a single revolution of the sun, or but slightly to exceed this
269
+ limit; whereas the Epic action has no limits of time. This, then, is
270
+ a second point of difference; though at first the same freedom was
271
+ admitted in Tragedy as in Epic poetry.
272
+
273
+ Of their constituent parts some are common to both, some peculiar to
274
+ Tragedy, whoever, therefore, knows what is good or bad Tragedy, knows
275
+ also about Epic poetry. All the elements of an Epic poem are found in
276
+ Tragedy, but the elements of a Tragedy are not all found in the Epic
277
+ poem.
278
+
279
+ VI
280
+
281
+ Of the poetry which imitates in hexameter verse, and of Comedy, we
282
+ will speak hereafter. Let us now discuss Tragedy, resuming its formal
283
+ definition, as resulting from what has been already said.
284
+
285
+ Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete,
286
+ and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of
287
+ artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of
288
+ the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and
289
+ fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions. By 'language
290
+ embellished,' I mean language into which rhythm, 'harmony,' and song
291
+ enter. By 'the several kinds in separate parts,' I mean, that some parts
292
+ are rendered through the medium of verse alone, others again with the
293
+ aid of song.
294
+
295
+ Now as tragic imitation implies persons acting, it necessarily follows,
296
+ in the first place, that Spectacular equipment will be a part of
297
+ Tragedy. Next, Song and Diction, for these are the medium of imitation.
298
+ By 'Diction' I mean the mere metrical arrangement of the words: as for
299
+ 'Song,' it is a term whose sense every one understands.
300
+
301
+ Again, Tragedy is the imitation of an action; and an action implies
302
+ personal agents, who necessarily possess certain distinctive qualities
303
+ both of character and thought; for it is by these that we qualify
304
+ actions themselves, and these--thought and character--are the two
305
+ natural causes from which actions spring, and on actions again all
306
+ success or failure depends. Hence, the Plot is the imitation of the
307
+ action: for by plot I here mean the arrangement of the incidents. By
308
+ Character I mean that in virtue of which we ascribe certain qualities to
309
+ the agents. Thought is required wherever a statement is proved, or, it
310
+ may be, a general truth enunciated. Every Tragedy, therefore, must have
311
+ six parts, which parts determine its quality--namely, Plot, Character,
312
+ Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Song. Two of the parts constitute the
313
+ medium of imitation, one the manner, and three the objects of imitation.
314
+ And these complete the list. These elements have been employed, we may
315
+ say, by the poets to a man; in fact, every play contains Spectacular
316
+ elements as well as Character, Plot, Diction, Song, and Thought.
317
+
318
+ But most important of all is the structure of the incidents. For Tragedy
319
+ is an imitation, not of men, but of an action and of life, and life
320
+ consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality. Now
321
+ character determines men's qualities, but it is by their actions that
322
+ they are happy or the reverse. Dramatic action, therefore, is not with
323
+ a view to the representation of character: character comes in as
324
+ subsidiary to the actions. Hence the incidents and the plot are the
325
+ end of a tragedy; and the end is the chief thing of all. Again, without
326
+ action there cannot be a tragedy; there may be without character.
327
+ The tragedies of most of our modern poets fail in the rendering of
328
+ character; and of poets in general this is often true. It is the same
329
+ in painting; and here lies the difference between Zeuxis and Polygnotus.
330
+ Polygnotus delineates character well: the style of Zeuxis is devoid
331
+ of ethical quality. Again, if you string together a set of speeches
332
+ expressive of character, and well finished in point of diction and
333
+ thought, you will not produce the essential tragic effect nearly so well
334
+ as with a play which, however deficient in these respects, yet has a
335
+ plot and artistically constructed incidents. Besides which, the most
336
+ powerful elements of emotional: interest in Tragedy Peripeteia or
337
+ Reversal of the Situation, and Recognition scenes--are parts of the
338
+ plot. A further proof is, that novices in the art attain to finish: of
339
+ diction and precision of portraiture before they can construct the plot.
340
+ It is the same with almost all the early poets.
341
+
342
+ The Plot, then, is the first principle, and, as it were, the soul of
343
+ a tragedy: Character holds the second place. A similar fact is seen in
344
+ painting. The most beautiful colours, laid on confusedly, will not give
345
+ as much pleasure as the chalk outline of a portrait. Thus Tragedy is
346
+ the imitation of an action, and of the agents mainly with a view to the
347
+ action.
348
+
349
+ Third in order is Thought,--that is, the faculty of saying what is
350
+ possible and pertinent in given circumstances. In the case of oratory,
351
+ this is the function of the Political art and of the art of rhetoric:
352
+ and so indeed the older poets make their characters speak the language
353
+ of civic life; the poets of our time, the language of the rhetoricians.
354
+ Character is that which reveals moral purpose, showing what kind of
355
+ things a man chooses or avoids. Speeches, therefore, which do not make
356
+ this manifest, or in which the speaker does not choose or avoid anything
357
+ whatever, are not expressive of character. Thought, on the other hand,
358
+ is found where something is proved to be, or not to be, or a general
359
+ maxim is enunciated.
360
+
361
+ Fourth among the elements enumerated comes Diction; by which I mean, as
362
+ has been already said, the expression of the meaning in words; and its
363
+ essence is the same both in verse and prose.
364
+
365
+ Of the remaining elements Song holds the chief place among the
366
+ embellishments.
367
+
368
+ The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of
369
+ all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the
370
+ art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt
371
+ even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of
372
+ spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than
373
+ on that of the poet.
374
+
375
+ VII
376
+
377
+ These principles being established, let us now discuss the proper
378
+ structure of the Plot, since this is the first and most important thing
379
+ in Tragedy.
380
+
381
+ Now, according to our definition, Tragedy is an imitation of an action
382
+ that is complete, and whole, and of a certain magnitude; for there may
383
+ be a whole that is wanting in magnitude. A whole is that which has a
384
+ beginning, a middle, and an end. A beginning is that which does not
385
+ itself follow anything by causal necessity, but after which something
386
+ naturally is or comes to be. An end, on the contrary, is that which
387
+ itself naturally follows some other thing, either by necessity, or as
388
+ a rule, but has nothing following it. A middle is that which follows
389
+ something as some other thing follows it. A well constructed plot,
390
+ therefore, must neither begin nor end at haphazard, but conform to these
391
+ principles.
392
+
393
+ Again, a beautiful object, whether it be a living organism or any whole
394
+ composed of parts, must not only have an orderly arrangement of parts,
395
+ but must also be of a certain magnitude; for beauty depends on magnitude
396
+ and order. Hence a very small animal organism cannot be beautiful;
397
+ for the view of it is confused, the object being seen in an almost
398
+ imperceptible moment of time. Nor, again, can one of vast size be
399
+ beautiful; for as the eye cannot take it all in at once, the unity and
400
+ sense of the whole is lost for the spectator; as for instance if there
401
+ were one a thousand miles long. As, therefore, in the case of animate
402
+ bodies and organisms a certain magnitude is necessary, and a magnitude
403
+ which may be easily embraced in one view; so in the plot, a certain
404
+ length is necessary, and a length which can be easily embraced by the
405
+ memory. The limit of length in relation to dramatic competition and
406
+ sensuous presentment, is no part of artistic theory. For had it been the
407
+ rule for a hundred tragedies to compete together, the performance would
408
+ have been regulated by the water-clock,--as indeed we are told was
409
+ formerly done. But the limit as fixed by the nature of the drama itself
410
+ is this: the greater the length, the more beautiful will the piece be
411
+ by reason of its size, provided that the whole be perspicuous. And
412
+ to define the matter roughly, we may say that the proper magnitude is
413
+ comprised within such limits, that the sequence of events, according
414
+ to the law of probability or necessity, will admit of a change from bad
415
+ fortune to good, or from good fortune to bad.
416
+
417
+ VIII
418
+
419
+ Unity of plot does not, as some persons think, consist in the Unity of
420
+ the hero. For infinitely various are the incidents in one man's life
421
+ which cannot be reduced to unity; and so, too, there are many actions of
422
+ one man out of which we cannot make one action. Hence, the error, as it
423
+ appears, of all poets who have composed a Heracleid, a Theseid, or other
424
+ poems of the kind. They imagine that as Heracles was one man, the story
425
+ of Heracles must also be a unity. But Homer, as in all else he is of
426
+ surpassing merit, here too--whether from art or natural genius--seems
427
+ to have happily discerned the truth. In composing the Odyssey he did not
428
+ include all the adventures of Odysseus--such as his wound on Parnassus,
429
+ or his feigned madness at the mustering of the host--incidents between
430
+ which there was no necessary or probable connection: but he made the
431
+ Odyssey, and likewise the Iliad, to centre round an action that in our
432
+ sense of the word is one. As therefore, in the other imitative arts, the
433
+ imitation is one when the object imitated is one, so the plot, being an
434
+ imitation of an action, must imitate one action and that a whole, the
435
+ structural union of the parts being such that, if any one of them is
436
+ displaced or removed, the whole will be disjointed and disturbed. For a
437
+ thing whose presence or absence makes no visible difference, is not an
438
+ organic part of the whole.
439
+
440
+ IX
441
+
442
+ It is, moreover, evident from what has been said, that it is not
443
+ the function of the poet to relate what has happened, but what may
444
+ happen,--what is possible according to the law of probability or
445
+ necessity. The poet and the historian differ not by writing in verse or
446
+ in prose. The work of Herodotus might be put into verse, and it would
447
+ still be a species of history, with metre no less than without it. The
448
+ true difference is that one relates what has happened, the other what
449
+ may happen. Poetry, therefore, is a more philosophical and a higher
450
+ thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history
451
+ the particular. By the universal, I mean how a person of a certain type
452
+ will on occasion speak or act, according to the law of probability or
453
+ necessity; and it is this universality at which poetry aims in the names
454
+ she attaches to the personages. The particular is--for example--what
455
+ Alcibiades did or suffered. In Comedy this is already apparent: for here
456
+ the poet first constructs the plot on the lines of probability, and then
457
+ inserts characteristic names;--unlike the lampooners who write about
458
+ particular individuals. But tragedians still keep to real names, the
459
+ reason being that what is possible is credible: what has not happened
460
+ we do not at once feel sure to be possible: but what has happened is
461
+ manifestly possible: otherwise it would not have happened. Still there
462
+ are even some tragedies in which there are only one or two well known
463
+ names, the rest being fictitious. In others, none are well known, as in
464
+ Agathon's Antheus, where incidents and names alike are fictitious, and
465
+ yet they give none the less pleasure. We must not, therefore, at all
466
+ costs keep to the received legends, which are the usual subjects of
467
+ Tragedy. Indeed, it would be absurd to attempt it; for even subjects
468
+ that are known are known only to a few, and yet give pleasure to all.
469
+ It clearly follows that the poet or 'maker' should be the maker of plots
470
+ rather than of verses; since he is a poet because he imitates, and what
471
+ he imitates are actions. And even if he chances to take an historical
472
+ subject, he is none the less a poet; for there is no reason why some
473
+ events that have actually happened should not conform to the law of the
474
+ probable and possible, and in virtue of that quality in them he is their
475
+ poet or maker.
476
+
477
+ Of all plots and actions the epeisodic are the worst. I call a plot
478
+ 'epeisodic' in which the episodes or acts succeed one another without
479
+ probable or necessary sequence. Bad poets compose such pieces by their
480
+ own fault, good poets, to please the players; for, as they write show
481
+ pieces for competition, they stretch the plot beyond its capacity, and
482
+ are often forced to break the natural continuity.
483
+
484
+ But again, Tragedy is an imitation not only of a complete action, but of
485
+ events inspiring fear or pity. Such an effect is best produced when the
486
+ events come on us by surprise; and the effect is heightened when, at the
487
+ same time, they follow as cause and effect. The tragic wonder will thee
488
+ be greater than if they happened of themselves or by accident; for even
489
+ coincidences are most striking when they have an air of design. We may
490
+ instance the statue of Mitys at Argos, which fell upon his murderer
491
+ while he was a spectator at a festival, and killed him. Such events seem
492
+ not to be due to mere chance. Plots, therefore, constructed on these
493
+ principles are necessarily the best.
494
+
495
+ X
496
+
497
+ Plots are either Simple or Complex, for the actions in real life, of
498
+ which the plots are an imitation, obviously show a similar distinction.
499
+ An action which is one and continuous in the sense above defined, I call
500
+ Simple, when the change of fortune takes place without Reversal of the
501
+ Situation and without Recognition.
502
+
503
+ A Complex action is one in which the change is accompanied by such
504
+ Reversal, or by Recognition, or by both. These last should arise from
505
+ the internal structure of the plot, so that what follows should be the
506
+ necessary or probable result of the preceding action. It makes all the
507
+ difference whether any given event is a case of propter hoc or post hoc.
508
+
509
+ XI
510
+
511
+ Reversal of the Situation is a change by which the action veers round
512
+ to its opposite, subject always to our rule of probability or necessity.
513
+ Thus in the Oedipus, the messenger comes to cheer Oedipus and free
514
+ him from his alarms about his mother, but by revealing who he is, he
515
+ produces the opposite effect. Again in the Lynceus, Lynceus is being led
516
+ away to his death, and Danaus goes with him, meaning, to slay him; but
517
+ the outcome of the preceding incidents is that Danaus is killed and
518
+ Lynceus saved. Recognition, as the name indicates, is a change from
519
+ ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between the persons
520
+ destined by the poet for good or bad fortune. The best form of
521
+ recognition is coincident with a Reversal of the Situation, as in the
522
+ Oedipus. There are indeed other forms. Even inanimate things of the most
523
+ trivial kind may in a sense be objects of recognition. Again, we may
524
+ recognise or discover whether a person has done a thing or not. But the
525
+ recognition which is most intimately connected with the plot and action
526
+ is, as we have said, the recognition of persons. This recognition,
527
+ combined, with Reversal, will produce either pity or fear; and actions
528
+ producing these effects are those which, by our definition, Tragedy
529
+ represents. Moreover, it is upon such situations that the issues of good
530
+ or bad fortune will depend. Recognition, then, being between persons,
531
+ it may happen that one person only is recognised by the other-when the
532
+ latter is already known--or it may be necessary that the recognition
533
+ should be on both sides. Thus Iphigenia is revealed to Orestes by the
534
+ sending of the letter; but another act of recognition is required to
535
+ make Orestes known to Iphigenia.
536
+
537
+ Two parts, then, of the Plot--Reversal of the Situation and
538
+ Recognition--turn upon surprises. A third part is the Scene of
539
+ Suffering. The Scene of Suffering is a destructive or painful action,
540
+ such as death on the stage, bodily agony, wounds and the like.
541
+
542
+ XII
543
+
544
+ [The parts of Tragedy which must be treated as elements of the whole
545
+ have been already mentioned. We now come to the quantitative parts,
546
+ and the separate parts into which Tragedy is divided, namely, Prologue,
547
+ Episode, Exode, Choric song; this last being divided into Parode and
548
+ Stasimon. These are common to all plays: peculiar to some are the songs
549
+ of actors from the stage and the Commoi.
550
+
551
+ The Prologue is that entire part of a tragedy which precedes the Parode
552
+ of the Chorus. The Episode is that entire part of a tragedy which
553
+ is between complete choric songs. The Exode is that entire part of a
554
+ tragedy which has no choric song after it. Of the Choric part the Parode
555
+ is the first undivided utterance of the Chorus: the Stasimon is a Choric
556
+ ode without anapaests or trochaic tetrameters: the Commos is a joint
557
+ lamentation of Chorus and actors. The parts of Tragedy which must
558
+ be treated as elements of the whole have been already mentioned. The
559
+ quantitative parts the separate parts into which it is divided--are here
560
+ enumerated.]
561
+
562
+ XIII
563
+
564
+ As the sequel to what has already been said, we must proceed to consider
565
+ what the poet should aim at, and what he should avoid, in constructing
566
+ his plots; and by what means the specific effect of Tragedy will be
567
+ produced.
568
+
569
+ A perfect tragedy should, as we have seen, be arranged not on the simple
570
+ but on the complex plan. It should, moreover, imitate actions which
571
+ excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of tragic
572
+ imitation. It follows plainly, in the first place, that the change, of
573
+ fortune presented must not be the spectacle of a virtuous man brought
574
+ from prosperity to adversity: for this moves neither pity nor fear; it
575
+ merely shocks us. Nor, again, that of a bad man passing from adversity
576
+ to prosperity: for nothing can be more alien to the spirit of Tragedy;
577
+ it possesses no single tragic quality; it neither satisfies the moral
578
+ sense nor calls forth pity or fear. Nor, again, should the downfall of
579
+ the utter villain be exhibited. A plot of this kind would, doubtless,
580
+ satisfy the moral sense, but it would inspire neither pity nor fear; for
581
+ pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man
582
+ like ourselves. Such an event, therefore, will be neither pitiful
583
+ nor terrible. There remains, then, the character between these two
584
+ extremes,--that of a man who is not eminently good and just,-yet whose
585
+ misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error
586
+ or frailty. He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous,--a
587
+ personage like Oedipus, Thyestes, or other illustrious men of such
588
+ families.
589
+
590
+ A well constructed plot should, therefore, be single in its issue,
591
+ rather than double as some maintain. The change of fortune should be not
592
+ from bad to good, but, reversely, from good to bad. It should come about
593
+ as the result not of vice, but of some great error or frailty, in a
594
+ character either such as we have described, or better rather than
595
+ worse. The practice of the stage bears out our view. At first the poets
596
+ recounted any legend that came in their way. Now, the best tragedies
597
+ are founded on the story of a few houses, on the fortunes of Alcmaeon,
598
+ Oedipus, Orestes, Meleager, Thyestes, Telephus, and those others who
599
+ have done or suffered something terrible. A tragedy, then, to be perfect
600
+ according to the rules of art should be of this construction. Hence
601
+ they are in error who censure Euripides just because he follows this
602
+ principle in his plays, many of which end unhappily. It is, as we have
603
+ said, the right ending. The best proof is that on the stage and in
604
+ dramatic competition, such plays, if well worked out, are the most
605
+ tragic in effect; and Euripides, faulty though he may be in the general
606
+ management of his subject, yet is felt to be the most tragic of the
607
+ poets.
608
+
609
+ In the second rank comes the kind of tragedy which some place first.
610
+ Like the Odyssey, it has a double thread of plot, and also an opposite
611
+ catastrophe for the good and for the bad. It is accounted the best
612
+ because of the weakness of the spectators; for the poet is guided in
613
+ what he writes by the wishes of his audience. The pleasure, however,
614
+ thence derived is not the true tragic pleasure. It is proper rather to
615
+ Comedy, where those who, in the piece, are the deadliest enemies--like
616
+ Orestes and Aegisthus--quit the stage as friends at the close, and no
617
+ one slays or is slain.
618
+
619
+ XIV
620
+
621
+ Fear and pity may be aroused by spectacular means; but they may also
622
+ result from the inner structure of the piece, which is the better way,
623
+ and indicates a superior poet. For the plot ought to be so constructed
624
+ that, even without the aid of the eye, he who hears the tale told will
625
+ thrill with horror and melt to pity at what takes place. This is the
626
+ impression we should receive from hearing the story of the Oedipus. But
627
+ to produce this effect by the mere spectacle is a less artistic method,
628
+ and dependent on extraneous aids. Those who employ spectacular means
629
+ to create a sense not of the terrible but only of the monstrous, are
630
+ strangers to the purpose of Tragedy; for we must not demand of Tragedy
631
+ any and every kind of pleasure, but only that which is proper to it. And
632
+ since the pleasure which the poet should afford is that which comes from
633
+ pity and fear through imitation, it is evident that this quality must be
634
+ impressed upon the incidents.
635
+
636
+ Let us then determine what are the circumstances which strike us as
637
+ terrible or pitiful.
638
+
639
+ Actions capable of this effect must happen between persons who are
640
+ either friends or enemies or indifferent to one another. If an enemy
641
+ kills an enemy, there is nothing to excite pity either in the act or
642
+ the intention,--except so far as the suffering in itself is pitiful.
643
+ So again with indifferent persons. But when the tragic incident occurs
644
+ between those who are near or dear to one another--if, for example, a
645
+ brother kills, or intends to kill, a brother, a son his father, a mother
646
+ her son, a son his mother, or any other deed of the kind is done--these
647
+ are the situations to be looked for by the poet. He may not indeed
648
+ destroy the framework of the received legends--the fact, for instance,
649
+ that Clytemnestra was slain by Orestes and Eriphyle by Alcmaeon but he
650
+ ought to show invention of his own, and skilfully handle the traditional
651
+ material. Let us explain more clearly what is meant by skilful handling.
652
+
653
+ The action may be done consciously and with knowledge of the persons, in
654
+ the manner of the older poets. It is thus too that Euripides makes Medea
655
+ slay her children. Or, again, the deed of horror may be done, but
656
+ done in ignorance, and the tie of kinship or friendship be discovered
657
+ afterwards. The Oedipus of Sophocles is an example. Here, indeed, the
658
+ incident is outside the drama proper; but cases occur where it falls
659
+ within the action of the play: one may cite the Alcmaeon of Astydamas,
660
+ or Telegonus in the Wounded Odysseus. Again, there is a third case,--<to
661
+ be about to act with knowledge of the persons and then not to act. The
662
+ fourth case is> when some one is about to do an irreparable deed through
663
+ ignorance, and makes the discovery before it is done. These are the only
664
+ possible ways. For the deed must either be done or not done,--and that
665
+ wittingly or unwittingly. But of all these ways, to be about to act
666
+ knowing the persons, and then not to act, is the worst. It is shocking
667
+ without being tragic, for no disaster follows. It is, therefore, never,
668
+ or very rarely, found in poetry. One instance, however, is in the
669
+ Antigone, where Haemon threatens to kill Creon. The next and better way
670
+ is that the deed should be perpetrated. Still better, that it should be
671
+ perpetrated in ignorance, and the discovery made afterwards. There
672
+ is then nothing to shock us, while the discovery produces a startling
673
+ effect. The last case is the best, as when in the Cresphontes Merope is
674
+ about to slay her son, but, recognising who he is, spares his life. So
675
+ in the Iphigenia, the sister recognises the brother just in time. Again
676
+ in the Helle, the son recognises the mother when on the point of giving
677
+ her up. This, then, is why a few families only, as has been already
678
+ observed, furnish the subjects of tragedy. It was not art, but happy
679
+ chance, that led the poets in search of subjects to impress the tragic
680
+ quality upon their plots. They are compelled, therefore, to have
681
+ recourse to those houses whose history contains moving incidents like
682
+ these.
683
+
684
+ Enough has now been said concerning the structure of the incidents, and
685
+ the right kind of plot.
686
+
687
+ XV
688
+
689
+ In respect of Character there are four things to be aimed at. First, and
690
+ most important, it must be good. Now any speech or action that manifests
691
+ moral purpose of any kind will be expressive of character: the character
692
+ will be good if the purpose is good. This rule is relative to each
693
+ class. Even a woman may be good, and also a slave; though the woman
694
+ may be said to be an inferior being, and the slave quite worthless. The
695
+ second thing to aim at is propriety. There is a type of manly valour;
696
+ but valour in a woman, or unscrupulous cleverness, is inappropriate.
697
+ Thirdly, character must be true to life: for this is a distinct thing
698
+ from goodness and propriety, as here described. The fourth point is
699
+ consistency: for though the subject of the imitation, who suggested the
700
+ type, be inconsistent, still he must be consistently inconsistent. As an
701
+ example of motiveless degradation of character, we have Menelaus in
702
+ the Orestes: of character indecorous and inappropriate, the lament of
703
+ Odysseus in the Scylla, and the speech of Melanippe: of inconsistency,
704
+ the Iphigenia at Aulis,--for Iphigenia the suppliant in no way resembles
705
+ her later self.
706
+
707
+ As in the structure of the plot, so too in the portraiture of character,
708
+ the poet should always aim either at the necessary or the probable. Thus
709
+ a person of a given character should speak or act in a given way, by the
710
+ rule either of necessity or of probability; just as this event should
711
+ follow that by necessary or probable sequence. It is therefore evident
712
+ that the unravelling of the plot, no less than the complication, must
713
+ arise out of the plot itself, it must not be brought about by the 'Deus
714
+ ex Machina'--as in the Medea, or in the Return of the Greeks in the
715
+ Iliad. The 'Deus ex Machina' should be employed only for events external
716
+ to the drama,--for antecedent or subsequent events, which lie beyond the
717
+ range of human knowledge, and which require to be reported or foretold;
718
+ for to the gods we ascribe the power of seeing all things. Within the
719
+ action there must be nothing irrational. If the irrational cannot be
720
+ excluded, it should be outside the scope of the tragedy. Such is the
721
+ irrational element in the Oedipus of Sophocles.
722
+
723
+ Again, since Tragedy is an imitation of persons who are above the common
724
+ level, the example of good portrait-painters should be followed. They,
725
+ while reproducing the distinctive form of the original, make a likeness
726
+ which is true to life and yet more beautiful. So too the poet, in
727
+ representing men who are irascible or indolent, or have other defects
728
+ of character, should preserve the type and yet ennoble it. In this way
729
+ Achilles is portrayed by Agathon and Homer.
730
+
731
+ These then are rules the poet should observe. Nor should he neglect
732
+ those appeals to the senses, which, though not among the essentials, are
733
+ the concomitants of poetry; for here too there is much room for error.
734
+ But of this enough has been said in our published treatises.
735
+
736
+ XVI
737
+
738
+ What Recognition is has been already explained. We will now enumerate
739
+ its kinds.
740
+
741
+ First, the least artistic form, which, from poverty of wit, is
742
+ most commonly employed recognition by signs. Of these some are
743
+ congenital,--such as 'the spear which the earth-born race bear on their
744
+ bodies,' or the stars introduced by Carcinus in his Thyestes. Others are
745
+ acquired after birth; and of these some are bodily marks, as scars; some
746
+ external tokens, as necklaces, or the little ark in the Tyro by which
747
+ the discovery is effected. Even these admit of more or less skilful
748
+ treatment. Thus in the recognition of Odysseus by his scar, the
749
+ discovery is made in one way by the nurse, in another by the swineherds.
750
+ The use of tokens for the express purpose of proof--and, indeed,
751
+ any formal proof with or without tokens--is a less artistic mode of
752
+ recognition. A better kind is that which comes about by a turn of
753
+ incident, as in the Bath Scene in the Odyssey.
754
+
755
+ Next come the recognitions invented at will by the poet, and on that
756
+ account wanting in art. For example, Orestes in the Iphigenia reveals
757
+ the fact that he is Orestes. She, indeed, makes herself known by the
758
+ letter; but he, by speaking himself, and saying what the poet, not what
759
+ the plot requires. This, therefore, is nearly allied to the fault above
760
+ mentioned:--for Orestes might as well have brought tokens with him.
761
+ Another similar instance is the 'voice of the shuttle' in the Tereus of
762
+ Sophocles.
763
+
764
+ The third kind depends on memory when the sight of some object awakens
765
+ a feeling: as in the Cyprians of Dicaeogenes, where the hero breaks into
766
+ tears on seeing the picture; or again in the 'Lay of Alcinous,' where
767
+ Odysseus, hearing the minstrel play the lyre, recalls the past and
768
+ weeps; and hence the recognition.
769
+
770
+ The fourth kind is by process of reasoning. Thus in the Choephori: 'Some
771
+ one resembling me has come: no one resembles me but Orestes: therefore
772
+ Orestes has come.' Such too is the discovery made by Iphigenia in the
773
+ play of Polyidus the Sophist. It was a natural reflection for Orestes to
774
+ make, 'So I too must die at the altar like my sister.' So, again, in
775
+ the Tydeus of Theodectes, the father says, 'I came to find my son, and
776
+ I lose my own life.' So too in the Phineidae: the women, on seeing the
777
+ place, inferred their fate:--'Here we are doomed to die, for here
778
+ we were cast forth.' Again, there is a composite kind of recognition
779
+ involving false inference on the part of one of the characters, as in
780
+ the Odysseus Disguised as a Messenger. A said <that no one else was able
781
+ to bend the bow;... hence B (the disguised Odysseus) imagined that A
782
+ would> recognise the bow which, in fact, he had not seen; and to bring
783
+ about a recognition by this means that the expectation A would recognise
784
+ the bow is false inference.
785
+
786
+ But, of all recognitions, the best is that which arises from the
787
+ incidents themselves, where the startling discovery is made by natural
788
+ means. Such is that in the Oedipus of Sophocles, and in the Iphigenia;
789
+ for it was natural that Iphigenia should wish to dispatch a letter.
790
+ These recognitions alone dispense with the artificial aid of tokens or
791
+ amulets. Next come the recognitions by process of reasoning.
792
+
793
+ XVII
794
+
795
+ In constructing the plot and working it out with the proper diction,
796
+ the poet should place the scene, as far as possible, before his eyes. In
797
+ this way, seeing everything with the utmost vividness, as if he were a
798
+ spectator of the action, he will discover what is in keeping with it,
799
+ and be most unlikely to overlook inconsistencies. The need of such a
800
+ rule is shown by the fault found in Carcinus. Amphiaraus was on his way
801
+ from the temple. This fact escaped the observation of one who did not
802
+ see the situation. On the stage, however, the piece failed, the audience
803
+ being offended at the oversight.
804
+
805
+ Again, the poet should work out his play, to the best of his power, with
806
+ appropriate gestures; for those who feel emotion are most convincing
807
+ through natural sympathy with the characters they represent; and one
808
+ who is agitated storms, one who is angry rages, with the most life-like
809
+ reality. Hence poetry implies either a happy gift of nature or a strain
810
+ of madness. In the one case a man can take the mould of any character;
811
+ in the other, he is lifted out of his proper self.
812
+
813
+ As for the story, whether the poet takes it ready made or constructs it
814
+ for himself, he should first sketch its general outline, and then
815
+ fill in the episodes and amplify in detail. The general plan may be
816
+ illustrated by the Iphigenia. A young girl is sacrificed; she disappears
817
+ mysteriously from the eyes of those who sacrificed her; She is
818
+ transported to another country, where the custom is to offer up all
819
+ strangers to the goddess. To this ministry she is appointed. Some time
820
+ later her own brother chances to arrive. The fact that the oracle for
821
+ some reason ordered him to go there, is outside the general plan of the
822
+ play. The purpose, again, of his coming is outside the action proper.
823
+ However, he comes, he is seized, and, when on the point of being
824
+ sacrificed, reveals who he is. The mode of recognition may be either
825
+ that of Euripides or of Polyidus, in whose play he exclaims very
826
+ naturally:--'So it was not my sister only, but I too, who was doomed to
827
+ be sacrificed'; and by that remark he is saved.
828
+
829
+ After this, the names being once given, it remains to fill in the
830
+ episodes. We must see that they are relevant to the action. In the case
831
+ of Orestes, for example, there is the madness which led to his capture,
832
+ and his deliverance by means of the purificatory rite. In the drama, the
833
+ episodes are short, but it is these that give extension to Epic poetry.
834
+ Thus the story of the Odyssey can be stated briefly. A certain man is
835
+ absent from home for many years; he is jealously watched by Poseidon,
836
+ and left desolate. Meanwhile his home is in a wretched plight--suitors
837
+ are wasting his substance and plotting against his son. At length,
838
+ tempest-tost, he himself arrives; he makes certain persons acquainted
839
+ with him; he attacks the suitors with his own hand, and is himself
840
+ preserved while he destroys them. This is the essence of the plot; the
841
+ rest is episode.
842
+
843
+ XVIII
844
+
845
+ Every tragedy falls into two parts,--Complication and Unravelling or
846
+ Denouement. Incidents extraneous to the action are frequently combined
847
+ with a portion of the action proper, to form the Complication; the rest
848
+ is the Unravelling. By the Complication I mean all that extends from
849
+ the beginning of the action to the part which marks the turning-point
850
+ to good or bad fortune. The Unravelling is that which extends from the
851
+ beginning of the change to the end. Thus, in the Lynceus of Theodectes,
852
+ the Complication consists of the incidents presupposed in the drama, the
853
+ seizure of the child, and then again, The Unravelling extends from
854
+ the accusation of murder to the end.
855
+
856
+ There are four kinds of Tragedy, the Complex, depending entirely on
857
+ Reversal of the Situation and Recognition; the Pathetic (where the
858
+ motive is passion),--such as the tragedies on Ajax and Ixion; the
859
+ Ethical (where the motives are ethical),--such as the Phthiotides and
860
+ the Peleus. The fourth kind is the Simple <We here exclude the purely
861
+ spectacular element>, exemplified by the Phorcides, the Prometheus, and
862
+ scenes laid in Hades. The poet should endeavour, if possible, to combine
863
+ all poetic elements; or failing that, the greatest number and those the
864
+ most important; the more so, in face of the cavilling criticism of the
865
+ day. For whereas there have hitherto been good poets, each in his own
866
+ branch, the critics now expect one man to surpass all others in their
867
+ several lines of excellence.
868
+
869
+ In speaking of a tragedy as the same or different, the best test to take
870
+ is the plot. Identity exists where the Complication and Unravelling are
871
+ the same. Many poets tie the knot well, but unravel it ill. Both arts,
872
+ however, should always be mastered.
873
+
874
+ Again, the poet should remember what has been often said, and not make
875
+ an Epic structure into a Tragedy--by an Epic structure I mean one with
876
+ a multiplicity of plots--as if, for instance, you were to make a tragedy
877
+ out of the entire story of the Iliad. In the Epic poem, owing to its
878
+ length, each part assumes its proper magnitude. In the drama the result
879
+ is far from answering to the poet's expectation. The proof is that the
880
+ poets who have dramatised the whole story of the Fall of Troy, instead
881
+ of selecting portions, like Euripides; or who have taken the whole
882
+ tale of Niobe, and not a part of her story, like Aeschylus, either fail
883
+ utterly or meet with poor success on the stage. Even Agathon has been
884
+ known to fail from this one defect. In his Reversals of the Situation,
885
+ however, he shows a marvellous skill in the effort to hit the popular
886
+ taste,--to produce a tragic effect that satisfies the moral sense. This
887
+ effect is produced when the clever rogue, like Sisyphus, is outwitted,
888
+ or the brave villain defeated. Such an event is probable in Agathon's
889
+ sense of the word: 'it is probable,' he says, 'that many things should
890
+ happen contrary to probability.'
891
+
892
+ The Chorus too should be regarded as one of the actors; it should be an
893
+ integral part of the whole, and share in the action, in the manner not
894
+ of Euripides but of Sophocles. As for the later poets, their choral
895
+ songs pertain as little to the subject of the piece as to that of any
896
+ other tragedy. They are, therefore, sung as mere interludes, a practice
897
+ first begun by Agathon. Yet what difference is there between introducing
898
+ such choral interludes, and transferring a speech, or even a whole act,
899
+ from one play to another?
900
+
901
+ XIX
902
+
903
+ It remains to speak of Diction and Thought, the other parts of Tragedy
904
+ having been already discussed. Concerning Thought, we may assume what
905
+ is said in the Rhetoric, to which inquiry the subject more strictly
906
+ belongs. Under Thought is included every effect which has to be produced
907
+ by speech, the subdivisions being,--proof and refutation; the excitation
908
+ of the feelings, such as pity, fear, anger, and the like; the suggestion
909
+ of importance or its opposite. Now, it is evident that the dramatic
910
+ incidents must be treated from the same points of view as the dramatic
911
+ speeches, when the object is to evoke the sense of pity, fear,
912
+ importance, or probability. The only difference is, that the incidents
913
+ should speak for themselves without verbal exposition; while the effects
914
+ aimed at in speech should be produced by the speaker, and as a result of
915
+ the speech. For what were the business of a speaker, if the Thought were
916
+ revealed quite apart from what he says?
917
+
918
+ Next, as regards Diction. One branch of the inquiry treats of the Modes
919
+ of Utterance. But this province of knowledge belongs to the art
920
+ of Delivery and to the masters of that science. It includes, for
921
+ instance,--what is a command, a prayer, a statement, a threat, a
922
+ question, an answer, and so forth. To know or not to know these things
923
+ involves no serious censure upon the poet's art. For who can admit
924
+ the fault imputed to Homer by Protagoras,--that in the words, 'Sing,
925
+ goddess, of the wrath,' he gives a command under the idea that he utters
926
+ a prayer? For to tell some one to do a thing or not to do it is, he
927
+ says, a command. We may, therefore, pass this over as an inquiry that
928
+ belongs to another art, not to poetry.
929
+
930
+ XX
931
+
932
+ [Language in general includes the following parts:--Letter, Syllable,
933
+ Connecting word, Noun, Verb, Inflexion or Case, Sentence or Phrase.
934
+
935
+ A Letter is an indivisible sound, yet not every such sound, but only
936
+ one which can form part of a group of sounds. For even brutes utter
937
+ indivisible sounds, none of which I call a letter. The sound I mean
938
+ may be either a vowel, a semi-vowel, or a mute. A vowel is that which
939
+ without impact of tongue or lip has an audible sound. A semi-vowel, that
940
+ which with such impact has an audible sound, as S and R. A mute, that
941
+ which with such impact has by itself no sound, but joined to a vowel
942
+ sound becomes audible, as G and D. These are distinguished according
943
+ to the form assumed by the mouth and the place where they are produced;
944
+ according as they are aspirated or smooth, long or short; as they are
945
+ acute, grave, or of an intermediate tone; which inquiry belongs in
946
+ detail to the writers on metre.
947
+
948
+ A Syllable is a non-significant sound, composed of a mute and a
949
+ vowel: for GR without A is a syllable, as also with A,--GRA. But the
950
+ investigation of these differences belongs also to metrical science.
951
+
952
+ A Connecting word is a non-significant sound, which neither causes nor
953
+ hinders the union of many sounds into one significant sound; it may
954
+ be placed at either end or in the middle of a sentence. Or, a
955
+ non-significant sound, which out of several sounds, each of them
956
+ significant, is capable of forming one significant sound,--as {alpha mu
957
+ theta iota}, {pi epsilon rho iota}, and the like. Or, a non-significant
958
+ sound, which marks the beginning, end, or division of a sentence; such,
959
+ however, that it cannot correctly stand by itself at the beginning of a
960
+ sentence, as {mu epsilon nu}, {eta tau omicron iota}, {delta epsilon}.
961
+
962
+ A Noun is a composite significant sound, not marking time, of which no
963
+ part is in itself significant: for in double or compound words we do not
964
+ employ the separate parts as if each were in itself significant. Thus
965
+ in Theodorus, 'god-given,' the {delta omega rho omicron nu} or 'gift' is
966
+ not in itself significant.
967
+
968
+ A Verb is a composite significant sound, marking time, in which, as in
969
+ the noun, no part is in itself significant. For 'man,' or 'white' does
970
+ not express the idea of 'when'; but 'he walks,' or 'he has walked' does
971
+ connote time, present or past.
972
+
973
+ Inflexion belongs both to the noun and verb, and expresses either the
974
+ relation 'of,' 'to,' or the like; or that of number, whether one or
975
+ many, as 'man' or 'men '; or the modes or tones in actual delivery, e.g.
976
+ a question or a command. 'Did he go?' and 'go' are verbal inflexions of
977
+ this kind.
978
+
979
+ A Sentence or Phrase is a composite significant sound, some at least of
980
+ whose parts are in themselves significant; for not every such group
981
+ of words consists of verbs and nouns--'the definition of man,' for
982
+ example--but it may dispense even with the verb. Still it will always
983
+ have some significant part, as 'in walking,' or 'Cleon son of Cleon.' A
984
+ sentence or phrase may form a unity in two ways,--either as signifying
985
+ one thing, or as consisting of several parts linked together. Thus the
986
+ Iliad is one by the linking together of parts, the definition of man by
987
+ the unity of the thing signified.]
988
+
989
+ XXI
990
+
991
+ Words are of two kinds, simple and double. By simple I mean those
992
+ composed of non-significant elements, such as {gamma eta}. By double
993
+ or compound, those composed either of a significant and non-significant
994
+ element (though within the whole word no element is significant), or
995
+ of elements that are both significant. A word may likewise be triple,
996
+ quadruple, or multiple in form, like so many Massilian expressions, e.g.
997
+ 'Hermo-caico-xanthus who prayed to Father Zeus>.'
998
+
999
+ Every word is either current, or strange, or metaphorical, or
1000
+ ornamental, or newly-coined, or lengthened, or contracted, or altered.
1001
+
1002
+ By a current or proper word I mean one which is in general use among
1003
+ a people; by a strange word, one which is in use in another country.
1004
+ Plainly, therefore, the same word may be at once strange and current,
1005
+ but not in relation to the same people. The word {sigma iota gamma
1006
+ upsilon nu omicron nu}, 'lance,' is to the Cyprians a current term but
1007
+ to us a strange one.
1008
+
1009
+ Metaphor is the application of an alien name by transference either from
1010
+ genus to species, or from species to genus, or from species to species,
1011
+ or by analogy, that is, proportion. Thus from genus to species, as:
1012
+ 'There lies my ship'; for lying at anchor is a species of lying. From
1013
+ species to genus, as: 'Verily ten thousand noble deeds hath Odysseus
1014
+ wrought'; for ten thousand is a species of large number, and is here
1015
+ used for a large number generally. From species to species, as: 'With
1016
+ blade of bronze drew away the life,' and 'Cleft the water with the
1017
+ vessel of unyielding bronze.' Here {alpha rho upsilon rho alpha iota},
1018
+ 'to draw away,' is used for {tau alpha mu epsilon iota nu}, 'to cleave,'
1019
+ and {tau alpha mu epsilon iota nu} again for {alpha rho upsilon alpha
1020
+ iota},--each being a species of taking away. Analogy or proportion is
1021
+ when the second term is to the first as the fourth to the third. We
1022
+ may then use the fourth for the second, or the second for the fourth.
1023
+ Sometimes too we qualify the metaphor by adding the term to which the
1024
+ proper word is relative. Thus the cup is to Dionysus as the shield to
1025
+ Ares. The cup may, therefore, be called 'the shield of Dionysus,' and
1026
+ the shield 'the cup of Ares.' Or, again, as old age is to life, so is
1027
+ evening to day. Evening may therefore be called 'the old age of
1028
+ the day,' and old age, 'the evening of life,' or, in the phrase
1029
+ of Empedocles, 'life's setting sun.' For some of the terms of the
1030
+ proportion there is at times no word in existence; still the metaphor
1031
+ may be used. For instance, to scatter seed is called sowing: but the
1032
+ action of the sun in scattering his rays is nameless. Still this process
1033
+ bears to the sun the same relation as sowing to the seed. Hence the
1034
+ expression of the poet 'sowing the god-created light.' There is another
1035
+ way in which this kind of metaphor may be employed. We may apply an
1036
+ alien term, and then deny of that term one of its proper attributes; as
1037
+ if we were to call the shield, not 'the cup of Ares,' but 'the wineless
1038
+ cup.'
1039
+
1040
+ {An ornamental word...}
1041
+
1042
+ A newly-coined word is one which has never been even in local use, but
1043
+ is adopted by the poet himself. Some such words there appear to be: as
1044
+ {epsilon rho nu upsilon gamma epsilon sigma}, 'sprouters,' for {kappa
1045
+ epsilon rho alpha tau alpha}, 'horns,' and {alpha rho eta tau eta rho},
1046
+ 'supplicator,' for {iota epsilon rho epsilon upsilon sigma}, 'priest.'
1047
+
1048
+ A word is lengthened when its own vowel is exchanged for a longer one,
1049
+ or when a syllable is inserted. A word is contracted when some part of
1050
+ it is removed. Instances of lengthening are,--{pi omicron lambda eta
1051
+ omicron sigma} for {pi omicron lambda epsilon omega sigma}, and {Pi eta
1052
+ lambda eta iota alpha delta epsilon omega} for {Pi eta lambda epsilon
1053
+ iota delta omicron upsilon}: of contraction,--{kappa rho iota}, {delta
1054
+ omega}, and {omicron psi}, as in {mu iota alpha / gamma iota nu epsilon
1055
+ tau alpha iota / alpha mu phi omicron tau episilon rho omega nu /
1056
+ omicron psi}.
1057
+
1058
+ An altered word is one in which part of the ordinary form is left
1059
+ unchanged, and part is re-cast; as in {delta epsilon xi iota-tau epsilon
1060
+ rho omicron nu / kappa alpha tau alpha / mu alpha zeta omicron nu},
1061
+ {delta epsilon xi iota tau epsilon rho omicron nu} is for {delta epsilon
1062
+ xi iota omicron nu}.
1063
+
1064
+ [Nouns in themselves are either masculine, feminine, or neuter.
1065
+ Masculine are such as end in {nu}, {rho}, {sigma}, or in some letter
1066
+ compounded with {sigma},--these being two, and {xi}. Feminine, such as
1067
+ end in vowels that are always long, namely {eta} and {omega}, and--of
1068
+ vowels that admit of lengthening--those in {alpha}. Thus the number of
1069
+ letters in which nouns masculine and feminine end is the same; for {psi}
1070
+ and {xi} are equivalent to endings in {sigma}. No noun ends in a mute
1071
+ or a vowel short by nature. Three only end in {iota},--{mu eta lambda
1072
+ iota}, {kappa omicron mu mu iota}, {pi epsilon pi epsilon rho iota}:
1073
+ five end in {upsilon}. Neuter nouns end in these two latter vowels; also
1074
+ in {nu} and {sigma}.]
1075
+
1076
+ XXII
1077
+
1078
+ The perfection of style is to be clear without being mean. The clearest
1079
+ style is that which uses only current or proper words; at the same
1080
+ time it is mean:--witness the poetry of Cleophon and of Sthenelus. That
1081
+ diction, on the other hand, is lofty and raised above the commonplace
1082
+ which employs unusual words. By unusual, I mean strange (or rare) words,
1083
+ metaphorical, lengthened,--anything, in short, that differs from the
1084
+ normal idiom. Yet a style wholly composed of such words is either a
1085
+ riddle or a jargon; a riddle, if it consists of metaphors; a jargon, if
1086
+ it consists of strange (or rare) words. For the essence of a riddle is
1087
+ to express true facts under impossible combinations. Now this cannot be
1088
+ done by any arrangement of ordinary words, but by the use of metaphor it
1089
+ can. Such is the riddle:--'A man I saw who on another man had glued the
1090
+ bronze by aid of fire,' and others of the same kind. A diction that
1091
+ is made up of strange (or rare) terms is a jargon. A certain infusion,
1092
+ therefore, of these elements is necessary to style; for the strange (or
1093
+ rare) word, the metaphorical, the ornamental, and the other kinds above
1094
+ mentioned, will raise it above the commonplace and mean, while the use
1095
+ of proper words will make it perspicuous. But nothing contributes more
1096
+ to produce a clearness of diction that is remote from commonness than
1097
+ the lengthening, contraction, and alteration of words. For by deviating
1098
+ in exceptional cases from the normal idiom, the language will gain
1099
+ distinction; while, at the same time, the partial conformity with usage
1100
+ will give perspicuity. The critics, therefore, are in error who censure
1101
+ these licenses of speech, and hold the author up to ridicule. Thus
1102
+ Eucleides, the elder, declared that it would be an easy matter to be
1103
+ a poet if you might lengthen syllables at will. He caricatured the
1104
+ practice in the very form of his diction, as in the verse: '{Epsilon pi
1105
+ iota chi alpha rho eta nu / epsilon iota delta omicron nu / Mu alpha rho
1106
+ alpha theta omega nu alpha delta epsilon / Beta alpha delta iota zeta
1107
+ omicron nu tau alpha}, or, {omicron upsilon kappa / alpha nu / gamma /
1108
+ epsilon rho alpha mu epsilon nu omicron sigma / tau omicron nu / epsilon
1109
+ kappa epsilon iota nu omicron upsilon /epsilon lambda lambda epsilon
1110
+ beta omicron rho omicron nu}. To employ such license at all obtrusively
1111
+ is, no doubt, grotesque; but in any mode of poetic diction there must
1112
+ be moderation. Even metaphors, strange (or rare) words, or any similar
1113
+ forms of speech, would produce the like effect if used without propriety
1114
+ and with the express purpose of being ludicrous. How great a difference
1115
+ is made by the appropriate use of lengthening, may be seen in Epic
1116
+ poetry by the insertion of ordinary forms in the verse. So, again, if
1117
+ we take a strange (or rare) word, a metaphor, or any similar mode of
1118
+ expression, and replace it by the current or proper term, the truth of
1119
+ our observation will be manifest. For example Aeschylus and Euripides
1120
+ each composed the same iambic line. But the alteration of a single word
1121
+ by Euripides, who employed the rarer term instead of the ordinary one,
1122
+ makes one verse appear beautiful and the other trivial. Aeschylus in his
1123
+ Philoctetes says: {Phi alpha gamma epsilon delta alpha iota nu alpha /
1124
+ delta / eta / mu omicron upsilon / sigma alpha rho kappa alpha sigma /
1125
+ epsilon rho theta iota epsilon iota / pi omicron delta omicron sigma}.
1126
+
1127
+ Euripides substitutes {Theta omicron iota nu alpha tau alpha iota}
1128
+ 'feasts on' for {epsilon sigma theta iota epsilon iota} 'feeds on.'
1129
+ Again, in the line, {nu upsilon nu / delta epsilon / mu /epsilon omega
1130
+ nu / omicron lambda iota gamma iota gamma upsilon sigma / tau epsilon /
1131
+ kappa alpha iota / omicron upsilon tau iota delta alpha nu omicron sigma
1132
+ / kappa alpha iota / alpha epsilon iota kappa eta sigma), the difference
1133
+ will be felt if we substitute the common words, {nu upsilon nu / delta
1134
+ epsilon / mu / epsilon omega nu / mu iota kappa rho omicron sigma /
1135
+ tau epsilon / kappa alpha iota / alpha rho theta epsilon nu iota kappa
1136
+ omicron sigma / kappa alpha iota / alpha epsilon iota delta gamma
1137
+ sigma}. Or, if for the line, {delta iota phi rho omicron nu / alpha
1138
+ epsilon iota kappa epsilon lambda iota omicron nu / kappa alpha tau
1139
+ alpha theta epsilon iota sigma / omicron lambda iota gamma eta nu /
1140
+ tau epsilon / tau rho alpha pi epsilon iota sigma / omicron lambda iota
1141
+ gamma eta nu / tau epsilon / tau rho alpha pi epsilon zeta alpha nu,}
1142
+ We read, {delta iota phi rho omicron nu / mu omicron chi theta eta rho
1143
+ omicron nu / kappa alpha tau alpha theta epsilon iota sigma / mu iota
1144
+ kappa rho alpha nu / tau epsilon / tau rho alpha pi epsilon zeta alpha
1145
+ nu}.
1146
+
1147
+ Or, for {eta iota omicron nu epsilon sigma / beta omicron omicron omega
1148
+ rho iota nu, eta iota omicron nu epsilon sigma kappa rho alpha zeta
1149
+ omicron upsilon rho iota nu}
1150
+
1151
+ Again, Ariphrades ridiculed the tragedians for using phrases which no
1152
+ one would employ in ordinary speech: for example, {delta omega mu alpha
1153
+ tau omega nu / alpha pi omicron} instead of {alpha pi omicron / delta
1154
+ omega mu alpha tau omega nu}, {rho epsilon theta epsilon nu}, {epsilon
1155
+ gamma omega / delta epsilon / nu iota nu}, {Alpha chi iota lambda lambda
1156
+ epsilon omega sigma / pi epsilon rho iota} instead of {pi epsilon rho
1157
+ iota / 'Alpha chi iota lambda lambda epsilon omega sigma}, and the like.
1158
+ It is precisely because such phrases are not part of the current idiom
1159
+ that they give distinction to the style. This, however, he failed to
1160
+ see.
1161
+
1162
+ It is a great matter to observe propriety in these several modes of
1163
+ expression, as also in compound words, strange (or rare) words, and so
1164
+ forth. But the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor.
1165
+ This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for
1166
+ to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.
1167
+
1168
+ Of the various kinds of words, the compound are best adapted to
1169
+ Dithyrambs, rare words to heroic poetry, metaphors to iambic. In heroic
1170
+ poetry, indeed, all these varieties are serviceable. But in iambic
1171
+ verse, which reproduces, as far as may be, familiar speech, the most
1172
+ appropriate words are those which are found even in prose. These
1173
+ are,--the current or proper, the metaphorical, the ornamental.
1174
+
1175
+ Concerning Tragedy and imitation by means of action this may suffice.
1176
+
1177
+ XXIII
1178
+
1179
+ As to that poetic imitation which is narrative in form and employs
1180
+ a single metre, the plot manifestly ought, as in a tragedy, to be
1181
+ constructed on dramatic principles. It should have for its subject a
1182
+ single action, whole and complete, with a beginning, a middle, and
1183
+ an end. It will thus resemble a living organism in all its unity, and
1184
+ produce the pleasure proper to it. It will differ in structure from
1185
+ historical compositions, which of necessity present not a single action,
1186
+ but a single period, and all that happened within that period to one
1187
+ person or to many, little connected together as the events may be. For
1188
+ as the sea-fight at Salamis and the battle with the Carthaginians in
1189
+ Sicily took place at the same time, but did not tend to any one result,
1190
+ so in the sequence of events, one thing sometimes follows another, and
1191
+ yet no single result is thereby produced. Such is the practice, we may
1192
+ say, of most poets. Here again, then, as has been already observed, the
1193
+ transcendent excellence of Homer is manifest. He never attempts to make
1194
+ the whole war of Troy the subject of his poem, though that war had
1195
+ a beginning and an end. It would have been too vast a theme, and not
1196
+ easily embraced in a single view. If, again, he had kept it within
1197
+ moderate limits, it must have been over-complicated by the variety of
1198
+ the incidents. As it is, he detaches a single portion, and admits as
1199
+ episodes many events from the general story of the war--such as the
1200
+ Catalogue of the ships and others--thus diversifying the poem. All other
1201
+ poets take a single hero, a single period, or an action single indeed,
1202
+ but with a multiplicity of parts. Thus did the author of the Cypria
1203
+ and of the Little Iliad. For this reason the Iliad and the Odyssey
1204
+ each furnish the subject of one tragedy, or, at most, of two; while the
1205
+ Cypria supplies materials for many, and the Little Iliad for eight--the
1206
+ Award of the Arms, the Philoctetes, the Neoptolemus, the Eurypylus, the
1207
+ Mendicant Odysseus, the Laconian Women, the Fall of Ilium, the Departure
1208
+ of the Fleet.
1209
+
1210
+ XXIV
1211
+
1212
+ Again, Epic poetry must have as many kinds as Tragedy: it must be
1213
+ simple, or complex, or 'ethical,' or 'pathetic.' The parts also, with
1214
+ the exception of song and spectacle, are the same; for it requires
1215
+ Reversals of the Situation, Recognitions, and Scenes of Suffering.
1216
+ Moreover, the thoughts and the diction must be artistic. In all these
1217
+ respects Homer is our earliest and sufficient model. Indeed each of
1218
+ his poems has a twofold character. The Iliad is at once simple and
1219
+ 'pathetic,' and the Odyssey complex (for Recognition scenes run through
1220
+ it), and at the same time 'ethical.' Moreover, in diction and thought
1221
+ they are supreme.
1222
+
1223
+ Epic poetry differs from Tragedy in the scale on which it is
1224
+ constructed, and in its metre. As regards scale or length, we have
1225
+ already laid down an adequate limit:--the beginning and the end must be
1226
+ capable of being brought within a single view. This condition will be
1227
+ satisfied by poems on a smaller scale than the old epics, and answering
1228
+ in length to the group of tragedies presented at a single sitting.
1229
+
1230
+ Epic poetry has, however, a great--a special--capacity for enlarging
1231
+ its dimensions, and we can see the reason. In Tragedy we cannot imitate
1232
+ several lines of actions carried on at one and the same time; we must
1233
+ confine ourselves to the action on the stage and the part taken by the
1234
+ players. But in Epic poetry, owing to the narrative form, many events
1235
+ simultaneously transacted can be presented; and these, if relevant to
1236
+ the subject, add mass and dignity to the poem. The Epic has here an
1237
+ advantage, and one that conduces to grandeur of effect, to diverting the
1238
+ mind of the hearer, and relieving the story with varying episodes. For
1239
+ sameness of incident soon produces satiety, and makes tragedies fail on
1240
+ the stage.
1241
+
1242
+ As for the metre, the heroic measure has proved its fitness by the test
1243
+ of experience. If a narrative poem in any other metre or in many metres
1244
+ were now composed, it would be found incongruous. For of all measures
1245
+ the heroic is the stateliest and the most massive; and hence it most
1246
+ readily admits rare words and metaphors, which is another point in which
1247
+ the narrative form of imitation stands alone. On the other hand, the
1248
+ iambic and the trochaic tetrameter are stirring measures, the latter
1249
+ being akin to dancing, the former expressive of action. Still more
1250
+ absurd would it be to mix together different metres, as was done by
1251
+ Chaeremon. Hence no one has ever composed a poem on a great scale in any
1252
+ other than heroic verse. Nature herself, as we have said, teaches the
1253
+ choice of the proper measure.
1254
+
1255
+ Homer, admirable in all respects, has the special merit of being the
1256
+ only poet who rightly appreciates the part he should take himself. The
1257
+ poet should speak as little as possible in his own person, for it is not
1258
+ this that makes him an imitator. Other poets appear themselves upon the
1259
+ scene throughout, and imitate but little and rarely. Homer, after a few
1260
+ prefatory words, at once brings in a man, or woman, or other personage;
1261
+ none of them wanting in characteristic qualities, but each with a
1262
+ character of his own.
1263
+
1264
+ The element of the wonderful is required in Tragedy. The irrational, on
1265
+ which the wonderful depends for its chief effects, has wider scope in
1266
+ Epic poetry, because there the person acting is not seen. Thus, the
1267
+ pursuit of Hector would be ludicrous if placed upon the stage--the
1268
+ Greeks standing still and not joining in the pursuit, and Achilles
1269
+ waving them back. But in the Epic poem the absurdity passes unnoticed.
1270
+ Now the wonderful is pleasing: as may be inferred from the fact that
1271
+ every one tells a story with some addition of his own, knowing that his
1272
+ hearers like it. It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the
1273
+ art of telling lies skilfully. The secret of it lies in a fallacy, For,
1274
+ assuming that if one thing is or becomes, a second is or becomes, men
1275
+ imagine that, if the second is, the first likewise is or becomes. But
1276
+ this is a false inference. Hence, where the first thing is untrue, it is
1277
+ quite unnecessary, provided the second be true, to add that the first
1278
+ is or has become. For the mind, knowing the second to be true, falsely
1279
+ infers the truth of the first. There is an example of this in the Bath
1280
+ Scene of the Odyssey.
1281
+
1282
+ Accordingly, the poet should prefer probable impossibilities to
1283
+ improbable possibilities. The tragic plot must not be composed of
1284
+ irrational parts. Everything irrational should, if possible, be
1285
+ excluded; or, at all events, it should lie outside the action of the
1286
+ play (as, in the Oedipus, the hero's ignorance as to the manner of
1287
+ Laius' death); not within the drama,--as in the Electra, the messenger's
1288
+ account of the Pythian games; or, as in the Mysians, the man who
1289
+ has come from Tegea to Mysia and is still speechless. The plea that
1290
+ otherwise the plot would have been ruined, is ridiculous; such a plot
1291
+ should not in the first instance be constructed. But once the irrational
1292
+ has been introduced and an air of likelihood imparted to it, we must
1293
+ accept it in spite of the absurdity. Take even the irrational incidents
1294
+ in the Odyssey, where Odysseus is left upon the shore of Ithaca. How
1295
+ intolerable even these might have been would be apparent if an inferior
1296
+ poet were to treat the subject. As it is, the absurdity is veiled by the
1297
+ poetic charm with which the poet invests it.
1298
+
1299
+ The diction should be elaborated in the pauses of the action, where
1300
+ there is no expression of character or thought. For, conversely,
1301
+ character and thought are merely obscured by a diction that is over
1302
+ brilliant.
1303
+
1304
+ XXV
1305
+
1306
+ With respect to critical difficulties and their solutions, the number
1307
+ and nature of the sources from which they may be drawn may be thus
1308
+ exhibited.
1309
+
1310
+ The poet being an imitator, like a painter or any other artist, must
1311
+ of necessity imitate one of three objects,--things as they were or are,
1312
+ things as they are said or thought to be, or things as they ought to be.
1313
+ The vehicle of expression is language,--either current terms or, it
1314
+ may be, rare words or metaphors. There are also many modifications of
1315
+ language, which we concede to the poets. Add to this, that the standard
1316
+ of correctness is not the same in poetry and politics, any more than in
1317
+ poetry and any other art. Within the art of poetry itself there are
1318
+ two kinds of faults, those which touch its essence, and those which are
1319
+ accidental. If a poet has chosen to imitate something, <but has imitated
1320
+ it incorrectly> through want of capacity, the error is inherent in
1321
+ the poetry. But if the failure is due to a wrong choice if he has
1322
+ represented a horse as throwing out both his off legs at once, or
1323
+ introduced technical inaccuracies in medicine, for example, or in any
1324
+ other art the error is not essential to the poetry. These are the points
1325
+ of view from which we should consider and answer the objections raised
1326
+ by the critics.
1327
+
1328
+ First as to matters which concern the poet's own art. If he describes
1329
+ the impossible, he is guilty of an error; but the error may be
1330
+ justified, if the end of the art be thereby attained (the end being that
1331
+ already mentioned), if, that is, the effect of this or any other part of
1332
+ the poem is thus rendered more striking. A case in point is the pursuit
1333
+ of Hector. If, however, the end might have been as well, or better,
1334
+ attained without violating the special rules of the poetic art, the
1335
+ error is not justified: for every kind of error should, if possible, be
1336
+ avoided.
1337
+
1338
+ Again, does the error touch the essentials of the poetic art, or some
1339
+ accident of it? For example,--not to know that a hind has no horns is a
1340
+ less serious matter than to paint it inartistically.
1341
+
1342
+ Further, if it be objected that the description is not true to fact, the
1343
+ poet may perhaps reply,--'But the objects are as they ought to be': just
1344
+ as Sophocles said that he drew men as they ought to be; Euripides,
1345
+ as they are. In this way the objection may be met. If, however, the
1346
+ representation be of neither kind, the poet may answer,--This is how men
1347
+ say the thing is.' This applies to tales about the gods. It may well be
1348
+ that these stories are not higher than fact nor yet true to fact: they
1349
+ are, very possibly, what Xenophanes says of them. But anyhow, 'this
1350
+ is what is said.' Again, a description may be no better than the fact:
1351
+ 'still, it was the fact'; as in the passage about the arms: 'Upright
1352
+ upon their butt-ends stood the spears.' This was the custom then, as it
1353
+ now is among the Illyrians.
1354
+
1355
+ Again, in examining whether what has been said or done by some one is
1356
+ poetically right or not, we must not look merely to the particular act
1357
+ or saying, and ask whether it is poetically good or bad. We must also
1358
+ consider by whom it is said or done, to whom, when, by what means, or
1359
+ for what end; whether, for instance, it be to secure a greater good, or
1360
+ avert a greater evil.
1361
+
1362
+ Other difficulties may be resolved by due regard to the usage of
1363
+ language. We may note a rare word, as in {omicron upsilon rho eta alpha
1364
+ sigma / mu epsilon nu / pi rho omega tau omicron nu}, where the poet
1365
+ perhaps employs {omicron upsilon rho eta alpha sigma} not in the sense
1366
+ of mules, but of sentinels. So, again, of Dolon: 'ill-favoured indeed
1367
+ he was to look upon.' It is not meant that his body was ill-shaped, but
1368
+ that his face was ugly; for the Cretans use the word {epsilon upsilon
1369
+ epsilon iota delta epsilon sigma}, 'well-favoured,' to denote a fair
1370
+ face. Again, {zeta omega rho omicron tau epsilon rho omicron nu /
1371
+ delta epsilon / kappa epsilon rho alpha iota epsilon}, 'mix the drink
1372
+ livelier,' does not mean `mix it stronger' as for hard drinkers, but
1373
+ 'mix it quicker.'
1374
+
1375
+ Sometimes an expression is metaphorical, as 'Now all gods and men were
1376
+ sleeping through the night,'--while at the same time the poet says:
1377
+ 'Often indeed as he turned his gaze to the Trojan plain, he marvelled
1378
+ at the sound of flutes and pipes.' 'All' is here used metaphorically for
1379
+ 'many,' all being a species of many. So in the verse,--'alone she hath
1380
+ no part...,' {omicron iota eta}, 'alone,' is metaphorical; for the best
1381
+ known may be called the only one.
1382
+
1383
+ Again, the solution may depend upon accent or breathing. Thus Hippias of
1384
+ Thasos solved the difficulties in the lines,--{delta iota delta omicron
1385
+ mu epsilon nu (delta iota delta omicron mu epsilon nu) delta epsilon
1386
+ / omicron iota,} and { tau omicron / mu epsilon nu / omicron upsilon
1387
+ (omicron upsilon) kappa alpha tau alpha pi upsilon theta epsilon tau
1388
+ alpha iota / omicron mu beta rho omega}.
1389
+
1390
+ Or again, the question may be solved by punctuation, as in
1391
+ Empedocles,--'Of a sudden things became mortal that before had learnt to
1392
+ be immortal, and things unmixed before mixed.'
1393
+
1394
+ Or again, by ambiguity of meaning,--as {pi alpha rho omega chi eta kappa
1395
+ epsilon nu / delta epsilon / pi lambda epsilon omega / nu upsilon xi},
1396
+ where the word {pi lambda epsilon omega} is ambiguous.
1397
+
1398
+ Or by the usage of language. Thus any mixed drink is called {omicron
1399
+ iota nu omicron sigma}, 'wine.' Hence Ganymede is said 'to pour the wine
1400
+ to Zeus,' though the gods do not drink wine. So too workers in iron
1401
+ are called {chi alpha lambda kappa epsilon alpha sigma}, or workers in
1402
+ bronze. This, however, may also be taken as a metaphor.
1403
+
1404
+ Again, when a word seems to involve some inconsistency of meaning, we
1405
+ should consider how many senses it may bear in the particular passage.
1406
+ For example: 'there was stayed the spear of bronze'--we should ask
1407
+ in how many ways we may take 'being checked there.' The true mode
1408
+ of interpretation is the precise opposite of what Glaucon mentions.
1409
+ Critics, he says, jump at certain groundless conclusions; they pass
1410
+ adverse judgment and then proceed to reason on it; and, assuming that
1411
+ the poet has said whatever they happen to think, find fault if a thing
1412
+ is inconsistent with their own fancy. The question about Icarius
1413
+ has been treated in this fashion. The critics imagine he was a
1414
+ Lacedaemonian. They think it strange, therefore, that Telemachus should
1415
+ not have met him when he went to Lacedaemon. But the Cephallenian story
1416
+ may perhaps be the true one. They allege that Odysseus took a wife from
1417
+ among themselves, and that her father was Icadius not Icarius. It is
1418
+ merely a mistake, then, that gives plausibility to the objection.
1419
+
1420
+ In general, the impossible must be justified by reference to artistic
1421
+ requirements, or to the higher reality, or to received opinion. With
1422
+ respect to the requirements of art, a probable impossibility is to
1423
+ be preferred to a thing improbable and yet possible. Again, it may be
1424
+ impossible that there should be men such as Zeuxis painted. 'Yes,' we
1425
+ say, 'but the impossible is the higher thing; for the ideal type must
1426
+ surpass the reality.' To justify the irrational, we appeal to what is
1427
+ commonly said to be. In addition to which, we urge that the irrational
1428
+ sometimes does not violate reason; just as 'it is probable that a thing
1429
+ may happen contrary to probability.'
1430
+
1431
+ Things that sound contradictory should be examined by the same rules as
1432
+ in dialectical refutation whether the same thing is meant, in the same
1433
+ relation, and in the same sense. We should therefore solve the question
1434
+ by reference to what the poet says himself, or to what is tacitly
1435
+ assumed by a person of intelligence.
1436
+
1437
+ The element of the irrational, and, similarly, depravity of character,
1438
+ are justly censured when there is no inner necessity for introducing
1439
+ them. Such is the irrational element in the introduction of Aegeus by
1440
+ Euripides and the badness of Menelaus in the Orestes.
1441
+
1442
+ Thus, there are five sources from which critical objections are drawn.
1443
+ Things are censured either as impossible, or irrational, or morally
1444
+ hurtful, or contradictory, or contrary to artistic correctness. The
1445
+ answers should be sought under the twelve heads above mentioned.
1446
+
1447
+ XXVI
1448
+
1449
+ The question may be raised whether the Epic or Tragic mode of imitation
1450
+ is the higher. If the more refined art is the higher, and the more
1451
+ refined in every case is that which appeals to the better sort of
1452
+ audience, the art which imitates anything and everything is manifestly
1453
+ most unrefined. The audience is supposed to be too dull to comprehend
1454
+ unless something of their own is thrown in by the performers, who
1455
+ therefore indulge in restless movements. Bad flute-players twist and
1456
+ twirl, if they have to represent 'the quoit-throw,' or hustle the
1457
+ coryphaeus when they perform the 'Scylla.' Tragedy, it is said, has
1458
+ this same defect. We may compare the opinion that the older actors
1459
+ entertained of their successors. Mynniscus used to call Callippides
1460
+ 'ape' on account of the extravagance of his action, and the same view
1461
+ was held of Pindarus. Tragic art, then, as a whole, stands to Epic in
1462
+ the same relation as the younger to the elder actors. So we are told
1463
+ that Epic poetry is addressed to a cultivated audience, who do not need
1464
+ gesture; Tragedy, to an inferior public. Being then unrefined, it is
1465
+ evidently the lower of the two.
1466
+
1467
+ Now, in the first place, this censure attaches not to the poetic but to
1468
+ the histrionic art; for gesticulation may be equally overdone in
1469
+ epic recitation, as by Sosi-stratus, or in lyrical competition, as by
1470
+ Mnasitheus the Opuntian. Next, all action is not to be condemned any
1471
+ more than all dancing--but only that of bad performers. Such was the
1472
+ fault found in Callippides, as also in others of our own day, who are
1473
+ censured for representing degraded women. Again, Tragedy like Epic
1474
+ poetry produces its effect even without action; it reveals its power
1475
+ by mere reading. If, then, in all other respects it is superior, this
1476
+ fault, we say, is not inherent in it.
1477
+
1478
+ And superior it is, because it has all the epic elements--it may even
1479
+ use the epic metre--with the music and spectacular effects as important
1480
+ accessories; and these produce the most vivid of pleasures. Further,
1481
+ it has vividness of impression in reading as well as in representation.
1482
+ Moreover, the art attains its end within narrower limits; for the
1483
+ concentrated effect is more pleasurable than one which is spread over a
1484
+ long time and so diluted. What, for example, would be the effect of the
1485
+ Oedipus of Sophocles, if it were cast into a form as long as the Iliad?
1486
+ Once more, the Epic imitation has less unity; as is shown by this, that
1487
+ any Epic poem will furnish subjects for several tragedies. Thus if
1488
+ the story adopted by the poet has a strict unity, it must either be
1489
+ concisely told and appear truncated; or, if it conform to the Epic canon
1490
+ of length, it must seem weak and watery. <Such length implies some loss
1491
+ of unity,> if, I mean, the poem is constructed out of several actions,
1492
+ like the Iliad and the Odyssey, which have many such parts, each with a
1493
+ certain magnitude of its own. Yet these poems are as perfect as possible
1494
+ in structure; each is, in the highest degree attainable, an imitation of
1495
+ a single action.
1496
+
1497
+ If, then, Tragedy is superior to Epic poetry in all these respects, and,
1498
+ moreover, fulfils its specific function better as an art for each art
1499
+ ought to produce, not any chance pleasure, but the pleasure proper to
1500
+ it, as already stated it plainly follows that Tragedy is the higher art,
1501
+ as attaining its end more perfectly.
1502
+
1503
+ Thus much may suffice concerning Tragic and Epic poetry in general;
1504
+ their several kinds and parts, with the number of each and their
1505
+ differences; the causes that make a poem good or bad; the objections of
1506
+ the critics and the answers to these objections.
1507
+
1508
+ End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Poetics, by Aristotle
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1
+ The Library of Liberal Arts
2
+ OSKAR PIEST, _General Editor_
3
+ [NUMBER EIGHT]
4
+
5
+ EPICTETUS
6
+ The Enchiridion
7
+
8
+ The Enchiridion
9
+ By
10
+ EPICTETUS
11
+
12
+ Translated by
13
+ THOMAS W. HIGGINSON
14
+
15
+ With an Introduction by
16
+ ALBERT SALOMON
17
+ _Professor of Sociology
18
+ New School for Social Research_
19
+
20
+ THE LIBERAL ARTS PRESS
21
+ NEW YORK
22
+
23
+ COPYRIGHT, 1948
24
+ THE LIBERAL ARTS PRESS, INC.
25
+
26
+ First Edition, _October, 1948_
27
+ Reprinted
28
+ _December, 1950_; _August, 1954_
29
+ Second Edition, _November, 1955_
30
+
31
+ Published at 153 West 72nd Street, New York 23, N. Y.
32
+ Printed in the United States of America
33
+
34
+ CONTENTS
35
+
36
+ Note on the Text
37
+ Introduction
38
+ Selected Bibliography
39
+ The Enchiridion
40
+
41
+ NOTE ON THE TEXT
42
+
43
+ The text of the second edition is a reprint of the first edition except
44
+ for a few minor corrections in style, punctuation, and spelling, which
45
+ have been revised to conform to current American usage.
46
+
47
+ The editorial staff of the publishers has added a few explanatory notes
48
+ which are set in brackets and marked "Ed."
49
+
50
+ O.P.
51
+
52
+ INTRODUCTION
53
+
54
+ The little book by Epictetus called _Enchiridion_ or "manual" has played
55
+ a disproportionately large role in the rise of modern attitudes and
56
+ modern philosophy. As soon as it had been translated into the vernacular
57
+ languages, it became a bestseller among independent intellectuals, among
58
+ anti-Christian thinkers, and among philosophers of a subjective cast.
59
+ Montaigne had a copy of the _Enchiridion_ among his books. Pascal
60
+ violently rejected the megalomaniac pride of the Stoic philosopher.
61
+ Frederick the Great carried the book with him on all campaigns. It was a
62
+ source of inspiration and encouragement to Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury,
63
+ in the serious illness which ended only in his death; many pages of his
64
+ diaries contain passages copied from the _Enchiridion_. It has been
65
+ studied and widely quoted by Scottish philosophers like Francis
66
+ Hutcheson, Adam Smith, and Adam Ferguson who valued Stoic moral
67
+ philosophy for its reconciliation of social dependency and personal
68
+ independence.
69
+
70
+ That there was a rebirth of Stoicism in the centuries of rebirth which
71
+ marked the emergence of the modern age was not mere chance.
72
+ Philosophical, moral, and social conditions of the time united to cause
73
+ it. Roman Stoicism had been developed in times of despotism as a
74
+ philosophy of lonely and courageous souls who had recognized the
75
+ redeeming power of philosophical reason in all the moral and social
76
+ purposes of life. Philosophy as a way of life makes men free. It is the
77
+ last ditch stand of liberty in a world of servitude. Many elements in the
78
+ new age led to thought which had structural affinity with Roman Stoicism.
79
+ Modern times had created the independent thinker, the free intellectual
80
+ in a secular civilization. Modern times had destroyed medieval liberties
81
+ and had established the new despotism of the absolute state supported by
82
+ ecclesiastical authority. Modern philosophies continued the basic trend
83
+ in Stoicism in making the subjective consciousness the foundation of
84
+ philosophy. The Stoic emphasis on moral problems was also appealing in an
85
+ era of rapid transition when all the values which had previously been
86
+ taken for granted were questioned and reconsidered.
87
+
88
+ While it is interesting to observe how varied were the effects produced
89
+ by this small volume, this epitome of the Stoic system of moral
90
+ philosophy, these effects seem still more remarkable when we consider
91
+ that it was not intended to be a philosophical treatise on Stoicism for
92
+ students. It was, rather, to be a guide for the advanced student of
93
+ Stoicism to show him the best roads toward the goal of becoming a true
94
+ philosopher. Thus Epictetus and his _Enchiridion_ have a unique position
95
+ in Roman Stoicism. Seneca and Marcus Aurelius had selected Stoic
96
+ philosophy as the most adequate system for expressing their existential
97
+ problems of independence, solitude, and history. In this enterprise,
98
+ Seneca made tremendous strides toward the insights of social psychology
99
+ as a by-product of his consciousness of decadence (in this he was close
100
+ to Nietzsche), but he was not primarily concerned with the unity of the
101
+ Stoic system. Marcus Aurelius changed the philosophical doctrine into the
102
+ regimen of the lonesome ruler. In contrast to both, Epictetus was
103
+ teaching Stoic philosophy as a doctrine and as a way of life. The
104
+ _Enchiridion_ is a summary of theoretical and applied Stoicism.
105
+
106
+ Epictetus was the son of a woman slave, born between 50 and 60 A.D. at
107
+ Hieropolis in Phrygia. We do not know how he came to Rome. He was there
108
+ as slave to one of Nero's distinguished freedmen who served as the
109
+ Emperor's secretary. While still in service, Epictetus took courses with
110
+ Musonius Rufus, the fashionable Stoic philosopher, who was impressed by
111
+ the sincere and dynamic personality of the young slave and trained him to
112
+ be a Stoic philosopher. Epictetus became a free man and began teaching
113
+ philosophy on street corners, in the market, but he was not successful.
114
+ During the rule of Domitian, Epictetus with many other philosophers was
115
+ exiled from Rome, probably between 89 and 92 A.D. He went to Nicopolis,
116
+ across Actium in Epirus, where he conducted his own school. He was so
117
+ well regarded and highly esteemed that he established the reputation of
118
+ the place as the town of Epictetus' school. Students came from Athens and
119
+ Rome to attend his classes. Private citizens came to ask his advice and
120
+ guidance. Some of his students returned to their homes to enter the
121
+ traditional careers to which they were socially obligated. Others assumed
122
+ the philosophic way of life in order to escape into the sphere of Stoic
123
+ freedom.
124
+
125
+ Among the students was a young Roman, Flavius Arrian, who took courses at
126
+ Nicopolis when Epictetus was already old. Flavius, who was born in 108
127
+ A.D., was one of the intimates of Hadrian, who made him consul in 130
128
+ A.D. He probably studied with Epictetus between the years 123 and 126
129
+ A.D. The informal philosophical talks which Epictetus had with his
130
+ students fascinated him. Needless to say there were also systematic
131
+ courses in the fields of philosophy. But it was the informal discourses
132
+ which convinced Arrian that he had finally discovered a Stoic Socrates or
133
+ a Stoic Diogenes, who was not merely teaching a doctrine, but also living
134
+ the truth. Arrian recorded many of the discourses and informal
135
+ conversations of Epictetus with his intimate students. He took them down
136
+ in shorthand in order not to lose the ineffable liveliness, grace, and
137
+ wit of the beloved teacher. Arrian retired into private life after the
138
+ death of Hadrian in 138 A.D. and dedicated himself to his literary work.
139
+ He published his notes on Epictetus' teaching under the title:
140
+ _Discourses in Four Books_. The _Enchiridion_, which was also arranged by
141
+ Arrian, is a brief summary of the basic ideas of Stoic philosophy and an
142
+ introduction to the techniques required to transform Stoic philosophy
143
+ into a way of life.
144
+
145
+ Thus we do not have any original writings of Epictetus. Like G. H. Mead
146
+ in recent times, he was completely dedicated to the human and
147
+ intellectual problems of his students. He left it for them to preserve
148
+ what they considered to be the lasting message of the teacher. In
149
+ contrast to Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus had no subjective
150
+ approach to the Stoic doctrines. Moral philosophy was the center of his
151
+ teaching, and epistemology was only instrumental. It is even permissible
152
+ to say that he took physics or cosmology too lightly. If this is granted,
153
+ we must admit that he is completely absorbed by the fundamentals of Stoic
154
+ thought as presented in the _Enchiridion_. Epictetus' personality is
155
+ totally integrated in the act of reasoning which establishes conformity
156
+ with nature.
157
+
158
+ A remarkable difference between the _Discourses_ and the _Enchiridion_
159
+ should be mentioned. The _Discourses_ are a living image of the teacher
160
+ in action; they present the process of philosophizing, not the finished
161
+ product. They show the enthusiastic and sober, the realistic and pathetic
162
+ moralist in constantly changing perspectives determined by the changing
163
+ students with their various concerns, problems, and questions; his
164
+ teachings, his formulations, have direct reference to the various life
165
+ situations in which the students should apply and practice the master's
166
+ Stoic teaching. No human situation is omitted; as a guide to conduct,
167
+ philosophy has relevance for all. Whether the students have to attend a
168
+ dinner party, whether they are among competitors in a stadium or in a
169
+ swimming pool, whether they have to present themselves at court or in an
170
+ office, whether they are in the company of their mothers and sisters or
171
+ of girl friends, in all human situations the philosopher knows the
172
+ correct advice for the philosophical apprentice. Thus, in the
173
+ _Discourses_, Arrian presents the unique individuality of the philosopher
174
+ and of his applied moral method in living contact with various students
175
+ in concrete situations. Epictetus as teacher anticipates very modern
176
+ educational methods in his regard for the structure of situations and the
177
+ changing perspectives in human relationships.
178
+
179
+ Nothing like this is revealed in the _Enchiridion_. Gone is the Stoic
180
+ philosopher as living spirit. What remains is the living spirit of
181
+ Stoicism. The _Enchiridion_ is a manual for the combat officer. This
182
+ analogy should be taken seriously. The Roman Stoics coined the formula:
183
+ _Vivere militare!_ (Life is being a soldier.) The student of philosophy
184
+ is a private, the advancing Stoic is a non-commissioned officer, and the
185
+ philosopher is the combat officer. For this reason all Roman Stoics apply
186
+ metaphors and images derived from military life. Apprentice students of
187
+ Stoicism are described as messengers, as scouts of God, as
188
+ representatives of divine nature. The advancing student who is close to
189
+ the goal of being a philosopher has the rank of an officer. He is already
190
+ able to establish inner freedom and independence. He understands the
191
+ basic Stoic truth of subjective consciousness, which is to distinguish
192
+ what is in our power from what is not in our power. Not in our power are
193
+ all the elements which constitute our environment, such as wealth,
194
+ health, reputation, social prestige, power, the lives of those we love,
195
+ and death. In our power are our thinking, our intentions, our desires,
196
+ our decisions. These make it possible for us to control ourselves and to
197
+ make of ourselves elements and parts of the universe of nature. This
198
+ knowledge of ourselves makes us free in a world of dependencies. This
199
+ superiority of our powers enables us to live in conformity with nature.
200
+ The rational philosophy of control of Self and of adjustment to the Whole
201
+ implies an asceticism of the emotional and the sensitive life. The
202
+ philosopher must examine and control his passions, his love, his
203
+ tenderness at all times in order always to be ready for the inevitable
204
+ moment of farewell. The Stoics practiced a Jesuitism _avant la lettre_.
205
+ They were able to live in the world as if they did not live in it. To the
206
+ Stoic, life is a military camp, a play on the stage, a banquet to which
207
+ we are invited. The _Enchiridion_ briefly indicated the techniques which
208
+ the philosopher should apply in acting well the diverse roles which God
209
+ might assign to those whom he loves, the Stoic philosophers. From the
210
+ rules of social conduct to the recommendations of sexual asceticism
211
+ before marriage, and the method of true thinking, the advanced Stoic will
212
+ find all principles of perfection and all precepts for realizing
213
+ philosophical principles in his conduct in this tiny volume.
214
+
215
+ Thus the _Enchiridion_ was liberating for all intellectuals who learned
216
+ from it that there are philosophical ways of self-redemption. From its
217
+ time, the secular thinker could feel jubilant because he was not in need
218
+ of a divine grace. Epictetus had taught him that philosophical reason
219
+ could make him free and that he was capable of redeeming himself by sound
220
+ reasoning.
221
+
222
+ In the Stoic distinctions of personality and world, of I and mine, of
223
+ subjective consciousness and the world of objects, of freedom and
224
+ dependence, we find implicit the basic elements of modern philosophies of
225
+ rationalism and of objective idealism or pantheism. For this reason there
226
+ is a continuous renascence of Stoicism from Descartes, Grotius, and
227
+ Bishop Butler, to Montesquieu, Adam Smith, and Kant. In this long
228
+ development in modern times, the tiny _Enchiridion_ of Epictetus played a
229
+ remarkable part.
230
+
231
+ The translations of Epictetus and of all other Stoics had the widest
232
+ effect on philosophers, theologians, and lay thinkers. They were studied
233
+ by the clergy of the various Christian denominations, by the scientists
234
+ who were striving for a natural religion, and by the independent
235
+ philosophers who were eager to separate philosophy from religion. There
236
+ were many outstanding bishops in the Catholic and Anglican Churches who
237
+ were eager to transform the traditions of Roman Stoicism into Christian
238
+ Stoicism. Among the Calvinistic denominations were many thinkers who were
239
+ in sympathy with Stoic moral principles because of their praise of the
240
+ austerity of life and of the control of passions. Likewise the adherents
241
+ of natural religion were propagating Stoicism as the ideal pattern of
242
+ universally valid and intelligible religion. Renascent Stoicism had three
243
+ functions in the rise of the modern world. First, it reconciled Christian
244
+ traditions to modern rationalistic philosophies; secondly, it established
245
+ an ideal pattern of natural religion; and, thirdly, it opened the way for
246
+ the autonomy of morals.
247
+
248
+ ALBERT SALOMON
249
+
250
+ The New School
251
+ for Social Research
252
+ _July, 1948_
253
+
254
+ SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
255
+
256
+ _Epictetus: Life and Work_
257
+
258
+ Arnim, Hans V., "Epictetos" in Pauli-Wissowa (ed), _Real-Encyclopaedie
259
+ der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_, VI, col. 126-131.
260
+
261
+ Arnold, E. V., "Epictetus" in Hastings, _Encyclopedia of Religion and
262
+ Ethics_, 1912. Vol. V, pp. 323, 324.
263
+
264
+ Bonhoeffer, A., _Epiktet und die Stoa_. Stuttgart, 1890.
265
+
266
+ ----, _Ethik des Stoikers Epiktet_. Stuttgart, 1894.
267
+
268
+ ----, _Epiktet und das Neue Testament_. Giessen, 1911.
269
+
270
+ Bruns, Ivo, _De schola Epicteti_. Kiel, 1897.
271
+
272
+ Bultmann, Rudolf, "Das religiöse Moment in der ethischen Unterweisung des
273
+ Epiktets und das Neue Testament," _Zeitschrift für die
274
+ neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde des Urchristentums_,
275
+ Vol. XIII, 1912; pp. 97-110; 177-191.
276
+
277
+ Colardeau, Th., _Etude sur Epictète_. Paris, 1903.
278
+
279
+ Hartmann, K., "Arrian und Epiktet," _Neue Jahrbücher für das klassische
280
+ Altertum_, Vol. XV, 1905.
281
+
282
+ Jagu, Amand, _Epictète et Platon_. Paris, 1944.
283
+
284
+ Lagrange, M. J., "La philosophie religieuse d'Epictète et le
285
+ Christianisme," _Revue Biblique_, Vol. IX, 1912; pp. 5-21,
286
+ 192-212.
287
+
288
+ Oldfather, W. A., "Introduction" to _Epictetus_, "Loeb Classics," Vol. I.
289
+
290
+ Souilhé, J., "Introduction" to _Entretiens_. Paris, 1943.
291
+
292
+ Weber, Louis, "La morale d'Epictète et les besoins présents de
293
+ l'enseignment moral," _Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale_, 1905,
294
+ pp. 830-858; 1906, pp. 342-360; 1907, pp. 327-347; 1909, pp.
295
+ 203-326.
296
+
297
+ _Main Works on Stoicism and Related Problems_
298
+
299
+ Arnold, E. V., _Roman Stoicism_. Cambridge, E., 1911.
300
+
301
+ Bevan, E., _Stoics and Sceptics_. Oxford, 1913.
302
+
303
+ Brochard, V., _Etudes de philosophie ancienne et de philosophie moderne_,
304
+ Paris, 1912.
305
+
306
+ Hicks, R. D., _Stoic and Epicurean_. New York, 1910.
307
+
308
+ Martha, C., _Les moralistes sur l'Empire Romain_. Paris, 1886.
309
+
310
+ Murray, Gilbert, _Stoic, Christian, Humanist_. London, 1940.
311
+
312
+ Robin, L., _La morale antique_. Paris, 1938, pp. 57, 130, 152, 167.
313
+
314
+ Wendland, Paul, _Philo und die cynisch-stoische Diatribe_. Berlin, 1895.
315
+
316
+ ----, _Die hellenistische Kultur in ihren Beziehungen zum Judentum und
317
+ Christentum_. Tübingen, 1912.
318
+
319
+ Zanta, L., _La renaissance du Stoicisme au XVIième siècle_. Paris, 1914.
320
+
321
+ Zeller, E., _The Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics_. London, 1892.
322
+
323
+ _Influence of Stoicism_
324
+
325
+ Busson, Henry, _La pensée religieuse Française de Charron à Pascal_.
326
+ Paris, 1933. Chap. VIII: Stoiciens et Epicuriens, pp. 379-429.
327
+
328
+ Dilthey, Wilhelm, _Gesammelte Werke_, Vol. II. "Einfluss der Stoa auf die
329
+ Ausbildung des natürlichen Systems der Geisteswissenschaften,"
330
+ pp. 153-162; "Anthropologie, Stoa und natürliches System im XVII.
331
+ Jahrhundert," pp. 439-457.
332
+
333
+ Groethuysen, Bernard, _Philosophische Anthropologie_. München, 1928.
334
+ (Chap. "Die römisch-griechische Lebensphilosophie.")
335
+
336
+ Rand, B., _The Life, Letters, etc. of Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury_.
337
+ London, 1900.
338
+
339
+ Saunders, Jason L., _Justus Lipsius. The Philosophy of Renaissance
340
+ Stoicism_. New York, 1955.
341
+
342
+ Wenley, R. M., _Stoicism and Its Influence_. New York, 1927.
343
+
344
+ THE ENCHIRIDION
345
+
346
+ I
347
+
348
+ There are things which are within our power, and there are things which
349
+ are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire,
350
+ aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our
351
+ power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever
352
+ are not properly our own affairs.
353
+
354
+ Now the things within our power are by nature free, unrestricted,
355
+ unhindered; but those beyond our power are weak, dependent, restricted,
356
+ alien. Remember, then, that if you attribute freedom to things by nature
357
+ dependent and take what belongs to others for your own, you will be
358
+ hindered, you will lament, you will be disturbed, you will find fault
359
+ both with gods and men. But if you take for your own only that which is
360
+ your own and view what belongs to others just as it really is, then no
361
+ one will ever compel you, no one will restrict you; you will find fault
362
+ with no one, you will accuse no one, you will do nothing against your
363
+ will; no one will hurt you, you will not have an enemy, nor will you
364
+ suffer any harm.
365
+
366
+ Aiming, therefore, at such great things, remember that you must not allow
367
+ yourself any inclination, however slight, toward the attainment of the
368
+ others; but that you must entirely quit some of them, and for the present
369
+ postpone the rest. But if you would have these, and possess power and
370
+ wealth likewise, you may miss the latter in seeking the former; and you
371
+ will certainly fail of that by which alone happiness and freedom are
372
+ procured.
373
+
374
+ Seek at once, therefore, to be able to say to every unpleasing semblance,
375
+ "You are but a semblance and by no means the real thing." And then
376
+ examine it by those rules which you have; and first and chiefly by this:
377
+ whether it concerns the things which are within our own power or those
378
+ which are not; and if it concerns anything beyond our power, be prepared
379
+ to say that it is nothing to you.
380
+
381
+ II
382
+
383
+ Remember that desire demands the attainment of that of which you are
384
+ desirous; and aversion demands the avoidance of that to which you are
385
+ averse; that he who fails of the object of his desires is disappointed;
386
+ and he who incurs the object of his aversion is wretched. If, then, you
387
+ shun only those undesirable things which you can control, you will never
388
+ incur anything which you shun; but if you shun sickness, or death, or
389
+ poverty, you will run the risk of wretchedness. Remove [the habit of]
390
+ aversion, then, from all things that are not within our power, and apply
391
+ it to things undesirable which are within our power. But for the present,
392
+ altogether restrain desire; for if you desire any of the things not
393
+ within our own power, you must necessarily be disappointed; and you are
394
+ not yet secure of those which are within our power, and so are legitimate
395
+ objects of desire. Where it is practically necessary for you to pursue or
396
+ avoid anything, do even this with discretion and gentleness and
397
+ moderation.
398
+
399
+ III
400
+
401
+ With regard to whatever objects either delight the mind or contribute to
402
+ use or are tenderly beloved, remind yourself of what nature they are,
403
+ beginning with the merest trifles: if you have a favorite cup, that it is
404
+ but a cup of which you are fond of--for thus, if it is broken, you can
405
+ bear it; if you embrace your child or your wife, that you embrace a
406
+ mortal--and thus, if either of them dies, you can bear it.
407
+
408
+ IV
409
+
410
+ When you set about any action, remind yourself of what nature the action
411
+ is. If you are going to bathe, represent to yourself the incidents usual
412
+ in the bath--some persons pouring out, others pushing in, others scolding,
413
+ others pilfering. And thus you will more safely go about this action if
414
+ you say to yourself, "I will now go to bathe and keep my own will in
415
+ harmony with nature." And so with regard to every other action. For thus,
416
+ if any impediment arises in bathing, you will be able to say, "It was not
417
+ only to bathe that I desired, but to keep my will in harmony with nature;
418
+ and I shall not keep it thus if I am out of humor at things that happen."
419
+
420
+ V
421
+
422
+ Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of
423
+ things. Thus death is nothing terrible, else it would have appeared so to
424
+ Socrates. But the terror consists in our notion of death, that it is
425
+ terrible. When, therefore, we are hindered or disturbed, or grieved, let
426
+ us never impute it to others, but to ourselves--that is, to our own views.
427
+ It is the action of an uninstructed person to reproach others for his own
428
+ misfortunes; of one entering upon instruction, to reproach himself; and
429
+ one perfectly instructed, to reproach neither others nor himself.
430
+
431
+ VI
432
+
433
+ Be not elated at any excellence not your own. If a horse should be
434
+ elated, and say, "I am handsome," it might be endurable. But when you are
435
+ elated and say, "I have a handsome horse," know that you are elated only
436
+ on the merit of the horse. What then is your own? The use of the
437
+ phenomena of existence. So that when you are in harmony with nature in
438
+ this respect, you will be elated with some reason; for you will be elated
439
+ at some good of your own.
440
+
441
+ VII
442
+
443
+ As in a voyage, when the ship is at anchor, if you go on shore to get
444
+ water, you may amuse yourself with picking up a shellfish or a truffle in
445
+ your way, but your thoughts ought to be bent toward the ship, and
446
+ perpetually attentive, lest the captain should call, and then you must
447
+ leave all these things, that you may not have to be carried on board the
448
+ vessel, bound like a sheep; thus likewise in life, if, instead of a
449
+ truffle or shellfish, such a thing as a wife or a child be granted you,
450
+ there is no objection; but if the captain calls, run to the ship, leave
451
+ all these things, and never look behind. But if you are old, never go far
452
+ from the ship, lest you should be missing when called for.
453
+
454
+ VIII
455
+
456
+ Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen
457
+ as they do happen, and you will go on well.
458
+
459
+ IX
460
+
461
+ Sickness is an impediment to the body, but not to the will unless itself
462
+ pleases. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will; and
463
+ say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens. For you will
464
+ find it to be an impediment to something else, but not truly to yourself.
465
+
466
+ X
467
+
468
+ Upon every accident, remember to turn toward yourself and inquire what
469
+ faculty you have for its use. If you encounter a handsome person, you
470
+ will find continence the faculty needed; if pain, then fortitude; if
471
+ reviling, then patience. And when thus habituated, the phenomena of
472
+ existence will not overwhelm you.
473
+
474
+ XI
475
+
476
+ Never say of anything, "I have lost it," but, "I have restored it." Has
477
+ your child died? It is restored. Has your wife died? She is restored. Has
478
+ your estate been taken away? That likewise is restored. "But it was a bad
479
+ man who took it." What is it to you by whose hands he who gave it has
480
+ demanded it again? While he permits you to possess it, hold it as
481
+ something not your own, as do travelers at an inn.
482
+
483
+ XII
484
+
485
+ If you would improve, lay aside such reasonings as these: "If I neglect
486
+ my affairs, I shall not have a maintenance; if I do not punish my
487
+ servant, he will be good for nothing." For it were better to die of
488
+ hunger, exempt from grief and fear, than to live in affluence with
489
+ perturbation; and it is better that your servant should be bad than you
490
+ unhappy.
491
+
492
+ Begin therefore with little things. Is a little oil spilled or a little
493
+ wine stolen? Say to yourself, "This is the price paid for peace and
494
+ tranquillity; and nothing is to be had for nothing." And when you call
495
+ your servant, consider that it is possible he may not come at your call;
496
+ or, if he does, that he may not do what you wish. But it is not at all
497
+ desirable for him, and very undesirable for you, that it should be in his
498
+ power to cause you any disturbance.
499
+
500
+ XIII
501
+
502
+ If you would improve, be content to be thought foolish and dull with
503
+ regard to externals. Do not desire to be thought to know anything; and
504
+ though you should appear to others to be somebody, distrust yourself. For
505
+ be assured, it is not easy at once to keep your will in harmony with
506
+ nature and to secure externals; but while you are absorbed in the one,
507
+ you must of necessity neglect the other.
508
+
509
+ XIV
510
+
511
+ If you wish your children and your wife and your friends to live forever,
512
+ you are foolish, for you wish things to be in your power which are not
513
+ so, and what belongs to others to be your own. So likewise, if you wish
514
+ your servant to be without fault, you are foolish, for you wish vice not
515
+ to be vice but something else. But if you wish not to be disappointed in
516
+ your desires, that is in your own power. Exercise, therefore, what is in
517
+ your power. A man's master is he who is able to confer or remove whatever
518
+ that man seeks or shuns. Whoever then would be free, let him wish
519
+ nothing, let him decline nothing, which depends on others; else he must
520
+ necessarily be a slave.
521
+
522
+ XV
523
+
524
+ Remember that you must behave as at a banquet. Is anything brought round
525
+ to you? Put out your hand and take a moderate share. Does it pass by you?
526
+ Do not stop it. Is it not yet come? Do not yearn in desire toward it, but
527
+ wait till it reaches you. So with regard to children, wife, office,
528
+ riches; and you will some time or other be worthy to feast with the gods.
529
+ And if you do not so much as take the things which are set before you,
530
+ but are able even to forego them, then you will not only be worthy to
531
+ feast with the gods, but to rule with them also. For, by thus doing,
532
+ Diogenes and Heraclitus, and others like them, deservedly became divine,
533
+ and were so recognized.
534
+
535
+ XVI
536
+
537
+ When you see anyone weeping for grief, either that his son has gone
538
+ abroad or that he has suffered in his affairs, take care not to be
539
+ overcome by the apparent evil, but discriminate and be ready to say,
540
+ "What hurts this man is not this occurrence itself--for another man might
541
+ not be hurt by it--but the view he chooses to take of it." As far as
542
+ conversation goes, however, do not disdain to accommodate yourself to him
543
+ and, if need be, to groan with him. Take heed, however, not to groan
544
+ inwardly, too.
545
+
546
+ XVII
547
+
548
+ Remember that you are an actor in a drama of such sort as the Author
549
+ chooses--if short, then in a short one; if long, then in a long one. If it
550
+ be his pleasure that you should enact a poor man, or a cripple, or a
551
+ ruler, or a private citizen, see that you act it well. For this is your
552
+ business--to act well the given part, but to choose it belongs to another.
553
+
554
+ XVIII
555
+
556
+ When a raven happens to croak unluckily, be not overcome by appearances,
557
+ but discriminate and say, "Nothing is portended to _me_, either to my
558
+ paltry body, or property, or reputation, or children, or wife. But to
559
+ _me_ all portents are lucky if I will. For whatsoever happens, it belongs
560
+ to me to derive advantage therefrom."
561
+
562
+ XIX
563
+
564
+ You can be unconquerable if you enter into no combat in which it is not
565
+ in your own power to conquer. When, therefore, you see anyone eminent in
566
+ honors or power, or in high esteem on any other account, take heed not to
567
+ be bewildered by appearances and to pronounce him happy; for if the
568
+ essence of good consists in things within our own power, there will be no
569
+ room for envy or emulation. But, for your part, do not desire to be a
570
+ general, or a senator, or a consul, but to be free; and the only way to
571
+ this is a disregard of things which lie not within our own power.
572
+
573
+ XX
574
+
575
+ Remember that it is not he who gives abuse or blows, who affronts, but
576
+ the view we take of these things as insulting. When, therefore, anyone
577
+ provokes you, be assured that it is your own opinion which provokes you.
578
+ Try, therefore, in the first place, not to be bewildered by appearances.
579
+ For if you once gain time and respite, you will more easily command
580
+ yourself.
581
+
582
+ XXI
583
+
584
+ Let death and exile, and all other things which appear terrible, be daily
585
+ before your eyes, but death chiefly; and you will never entertain an
586
+ abject thought, nor too eagerly covet anything.
587
+
588
+ XXII
589
+
590
+ If you have an earnest desire toward philosophy, prepare yourself from
591
+ the very first to have the multitude laugh and sneer, and say, "He is
592
+ returned to us a philosopher all at once"; and, "Whence this supercilious
593
+ look?" Now, for your part, do not have a supercilious look indeed, but
594
+ keep steadily to those things which appear best to you, as one appointed
595
+ by God to this particular station. For remember that, if you are
596
+ persistent, those very persons who at first ridiculed will afterwards
597
+ admire you. But if you are conquered by them, you will incur a double
598
+ ridicule.
599
+
600
+ XXIII
601
+
602
+ If you ever happen to turn your attention to externals, for the pleasure
603
+ of anyone, be assured that you have ruined your scheme of life. Be
604
+ content, then, in everything, with being a philosopher; and if you wish
605
+ to seem so likewise to anyone, appear so to yourself, and it will suffice
606
+ you.
607
+
608
+ XXIV
609
+
610
+ Let not such considerations as these distress you: "I shall live in
611
+ discredit and be nobody anywhere." For if discredit be an evil, you can
612
+ no more be involved in evil through another than in baseness. Is it any
613
+ business of yours, then, to get power or to be admitted to an
614
+ entertainment? By no means. How then, after all, is this discredit? And
615
+ how it is true that you will be nobody anywhere when you ought to be
616
+ somebody in those things only which are within your own power, in which
617
+ you may be of the greatest consequence? "But my friends will be
618
+ unassisted." What do you mean by "unassisted"? They will not have money
619
+ from you, nor will you make them Roman citizens. Who told you, then, that
620
+ these are among the things within our own power, and not rather the
621
+ affairs of others? And who can give to another the things which he
622
+ himself has not? "Well, but get them, then, that we too may have a
623
+ share." If I can get them with the preservation of my own honor and
624
+ fidelity and self-respect, show me the way and I will get them; but if
625
+ you require me to lose my own proper good, that you may gain what is no
626
+ good, consider how unreasonable and foolish you are. Besides, which would
627
+ you rather have, a sum of money or a faithful and honorable friend?
628
+ Rather assist me, then, to gain this character than require me to do
629
+ those things by which I may lose it. Well, but my country, say you, as
630
+ far as depends upon me, will be unassisted. Here, again, what assistance
631
+ is this you mean? It will not have porticos nor baths of your providing?
632
+ And what signifies that? Why, neither does a smith provide it with shoes,
633
+ nor a shoemaker with arms. It is enough if everyone fully performs his
634
+ own proper business. And were you to supply it with another faithful and
635
+ honorable citizen, would not he be of use to it? Yes. Therefore neither
636
+ are you yourself useless to it. "What place, then," say you, "shall I
637
+ hold in the state?" Whatever you can hold with the preservation of your
638
+ fidelity and honor. But if, by desiring to be useful to that, you lose
639
+ these, how can you serve your country when you have become faithless and
640
+ shameless?
641
+
642
+ XXV
643
+
644
+ Is anyone preferred before you at an entertainment, or in courtesies, or
645
+ in confidential intercourse? If these things are good, you ought to
646
+ rejoice that he has them; and if they are evil, do not be grieved that
647
+ you have them not. And remember that you cannot be permitted to rival
648
+ others in externals without using the same means to obtain them. For how
649
+ can he who will not haunt the door of any man, will not attend him, will
650
+ not praise him, have an equal share with him who does these things? You
651
+ are unjust, then, and unreasonable if you are unwilling to pay the price
652
+ for which these things are sold, and would have them for nothing. For how
653
+ much are lettuces sold? An obulus, for instance. If another, then, paying
654
+ an obulus, takes the lettuces, and you, not paying it, go without them,
655
+ do not imagine that he has gained any advantage over you. For as he has
656
+ the lettuces, so you have the obulus which you did not give. So, in the
657
+ present case, you have not been invited to such a person's entertainment
658
+ because you have not paid him the price for which a supper is sold. It is
659
+ sold for praise; it is sold for attendance. Give him, then, the value if
660
+ it be for your advantage. But if you would at the same time not pay the
661
+ one, and yet receive the other, you are unreasonable and foolish. Have
662
+ you nothing, then, in place of the supper? Yes, indeed, you have--not to
663
+ praise him whom you do not like to praise; not to bear the insolence of
664
+ his lackeys.
665
+
666
+ XXVI
667
+
668
+ The will of nature may be learned from things upon which we are all
669
+ agreed. As when our neighbor's boy has broken a cup, or the like, we are
670
+ ready at once to say, "These are casualties that will happen"; be
671
+ assured, then, that when your own cup is likewise broken, you ought to be
672
+ affected just as when another's cup was broken. Now apply this to greater
673
+ things. Is the child or wife of another dead? There is no one who would
674
+ not say, "This is an accident of mortality." But if anyone's own child
675
+ happens to die, it is immediately, "Alas! how wretched am I!" It should
676
+ be always remembered how we are affected on hearing the same thing
677
+ concerning others.
678
+
679
+ XXVII
680
+
681
+ As a mark[1] is not set up for the sake of missing the aim, so neither
682
+ does the nature of evil exist in the world.
683
+
684
+ XXVIII
685
+
686
+ If a person had delivered up your body to some passer-by, you would
687
+ certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in delivering up your own
688
+ mind to any reviler, to be disconcerted and confounded?
689
+
690
+ XXIX[2]
691
+
692
+ In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then
693
+ undertake it. Otherwise you will begin with spirit, indeed, careless of
694
+ the consequences, and when these are developed, you will shamefully
695
+ desist. "I would conquer at the Olympic Games." But consider what
696
+ precedes and what follows, and then, if it be for your advantage, engage
697
+ in the affair. You must conform to rules, submit to a diet, refrain from
698
+ dainties; exercise your body, whether you choose it or not, at a stated
699
+ hour, in heat and cold; you must drink no cold water, and sometimes no
700
+ wine--in a word, you must give yourself up to your trainer as to a
701
+ physician. Then, in the combat, you may be thrown into a ditch, dislocate
702
+ your arm, turn your ankle, swallow an abundance of dust, receive stripes
703
+ [for negligence], and, after all, lose the victory. When you have
704
+ reckoned up all this, if your inclination still holds, set about the
705
+ combat. Otherwise, take notice, you will behave like children who
706
+ sometimes play wrestlers, sometimes gladiators, sometimes blow a trumpet,
707
+ and sometimes act a tragedy, when they happen to have seen and admired
708
+ these shows. Thus you too will be at one time a wrestler, and another a
709
+ gladiator; now a philosopher, now an orator; but nothing in earnest. Like
710
+ an ape you mimic all you see, and one thing after another is sure to
711
+ please you, but is out of favor as soon as it becomes familiar. For you
712
+ have never entered upon anything considerately; nor after having surveyed
713
+ and tested the whole matter, but carelessly, and with a halfway zeal.
714
+ Thus some, when they have seen a philosopher and heard a man speaking
715
+ like Euphrates[3]--though, indeed, who can speak like him?--have a mind to
716
+ be philosophers, too. Consider first, man, what the matter is, and what
717
+ your own nature is able to bear. If you would be a wrestler, consider
718
+ your shoulders, your back, your thighs; for different persons are made
719
+ for different things. Do you think that you can act as you do and be a
720
+ philosopher, that you can eat, drink, be angry, be discontented, as you
721
+ are now? You must watch, you must labor, you must get the better of
722
+ certain appetites, must quit your acquaintances, be despised by your
723
+ servant, be laughed at by those you meet; come off worse than others in
724
+ everything--in offices, in honors, before tribunals. When you have fully
725
+ considered all these things, approach, if you please--that is, if, by
726
+ parting with them, you have a mind to purchase serenity, freedom, and
727
+ tranquillity. If not, do not come hither; do not, like children, be now a
728
+ philosopher, then a publican, then an orator, and then one of Caesar's
729
+ officers. These things are not consistent. You must be one man, either
730
+ good or bad. You must cultivate either your own reason or else externals;
731
+ apply yourself either to things within or without you--that is, be either
732
+ a philosopher or one of the mob.
733
+
734
+ XXX
735
+
736
+ Duties are universally measured by relations. Is a certain man your
737
+ father? In this are implied taking care of him, submitting to him in all
738
+ things, patiently receiving his reproaches, his correction. But he is a
739
+ bad father. Is your natural tie, then, to a _good_ father? No, but to a
740
+ father. Is a brother unjust? Well, preserve your own just relation toward
741
+ him. Consider not what _he_ does, but what _you_ are to do to keep your
742
+ own will in a state conformable to nature, for another cannot hurt you
743
+ unless you please. You will then be hurt when you consent to be hurt. In
744
+ this manner, therefore, if you accustom yourself to contemplate the
745
+ relations of neighbor, citizen, commander, you can deduce from each the
746
+ corresponding duties.
747
+
748
+ XXXI
749
+
750
+ Be assured that the essence of piety toward the gods lies in this--to form
751
+ right opinions concerning them, as existing and as governing the universe
752
+ justly and well. And fix yourself in this resolution, to obey them, and
753
+ yield to them, and willingly follow them amidst all events, as being
754
+ ruled by the most perfect wisdom. For thus you will never find fault with
755
+ the gods, nor accuse them of neglecting you. And it is not possible for
756
+ this to be affected in any other way than by withdrawing yourself from
757
+ things which are not within our own power, and by making good or evil to
758
+ consist only in those which are. For if you suppose any other things to
759
+ be either good or evil, it is inevitable that, when you are disappointed
760
+ of what you wish or incur what you would avoid, you should reproach and
761
+ blame their authors. For every creature is naturally formed to flee and
762
+ abhor things that appear hurtful and that which causes them; and to
763
+ pursue and admire those which appear beneficial and that which causes
764
+ them. It is impracticable, then, that one who supposes himself to be hurt
765
+ should rejoice in the person who, as he thinks, hurts him, just as it is
766
+ impossible to rejoice in the hurt itself. Hence, also, a father is
767
+ reviled by his son when he does not impart the things which seem to be
768
+ good; and this made Polynices and Eteocles[4] mutually enemies--that
769
+ empire seemed good to both. On this account the husbandman reviles the
770
+ gods; [and so do] the sailor, the merchant, or those who have lost wife
771
+ or child. For where our interest is, there, too, is piety directed. So
772
+ that whoever is careful to regulate his desires and aversions as he ought
773
+ is thus made careful of piety likewise. But it also becomes incumbent on
774
+ everyone to offer libations and sacrifices and first fruits, according to
775
+ the customs of his country, purely, and not heedlessly nor negligently;
776
+ not avariciously, nor yet extravagantly.
777
+
778
+ XXXII
779
+
780
+ When you have recourse to divination, remember that you know not what the
781
+ event will be, and you come to learn it of the diviner; but of what
782
+ nature it is you knew before coming; at least, if you are of philosophic
783
+ mind. For if it is among the things not within our own power, it can by
784
+ no means be either good or evil. Do not, therefore, bring with you to the
785
+ diviner either desire or aversion--else you will approach him
786
+ trembling--but first clearly understand that every event is indifferent
787
+ and nothing to _you_, of whatever sort it may be; for it will be in your
788
+ power to make a right use of it, and this no one can hinder. Then come
789
+ with confidence to the gods as your counselors; and afterwards, when any
790
+ counsel is given you, remember what counselors you have assumed, and
791
+ whose advice you will neglect if you disobey. Come to divination as
792
+ Socrates prescribed, in cases of which the whole consideration relates to
793
+ the event, and in which no opportunities are afforded by reason or any
794
+ other art to discover the matter in view. When, therefore, it is our duty
795
+ to share the danger of a friend or of our country, we ought not to
796
+ consult the oracle as to whether we shall share it with them or not. For
797
+ though the diviner should forewarn you that the auspices are unfavorable,
798
+ this means no more than that either death or mutilation or exile is
799
+ portended. But we have reason within us; and it directs us, even with
800
+ these hazards, to stand by our friend and our country. Attend, therefore,
801
+ to the greater diviner, the Pythian God, who once cast out of the temple
802
+ him who neglected to save his friend.[5]
803
+
804
+ XXXIII
805
+
806
+ Begin by prescribing to yourself some character and demeanor, such as you
807
+ may preserve both alone and in company.
808
+
809
+ Be mostly silent, or speak merely what is needful, and in few words. We
810
+ may, however, enter sparingly into discourse sometimes, when occasion
811
+ calls for it; but let it not run on any of the common subjects, as
812
+ gladiators, or horse races, or athletic champions, or food, or drink--the
813
+ vulgar topics of conversation--and especially not on men, so as either to
814
+ blame, or praise, or make comparisons. If you are able, then, by your own
815
+ conversation, bring over that of your company to proper subjects; but if
816
+ you happen to find yourself among strangers, be silent.
817
+
818
+ Let not your laughter be loud, frequent, or abundant.
819
+
820
+ Avoid taking oaths, if possible, altogether; at any rate, so far as you
821
+ are able.
822
+
823
+ Avoid public and vulgar entertainments; but if ever an occasion calls you
824
+ to them, keep your attention upon the stretch, that you may not
825
+ imperceptibly slide into vulgarity. For be assured that if a person be
826
+ ever so pure himself, yet, if his companion be corrupted, he who
827
+ converses with him will be corrupted likewise.
828
+
829
+ Provide things relating to the body no further than absolute need
830
+ requires, as meat, drink, clothing, house, retinue. But cut off
831
+ everything that looks toward show and luxury.
832
+
833
+ Before marriage guard yourself with all your ability from unlawful
834
+ intercourse with women; yet be not uncharitable or severe to those who
835
+ are led into this, nor boast frequently that you yourself do otherwise.
836
+
837
+ If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make
838
+ excuses about what is said of you, but answer: "He was ignorant of my
839
+ other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone."
840
+
841
+ It is not necessary for you to appear often at public spectacles; but if
842
+ ever there is a proper occasion for you to be there, do not appear more
843
+ solicitous for any other than for yourself--that is, wish things to be
844
+ only just as they are, and only the best man to win; for thus nothing
845
+ will go against you. But abstain entirely from acclamations and derision
846
+ and violent emotions. And when you come away, do not discourse a great
847
+ deal on what has passed and what contributes nothing to your own
848
+ amendment. For it would appear by such discourse that you were dazzled by
849
+ the show.
850
+
851
+ Be not prompt or ready to attend private recitations; but if you do
852
+ attend, preserve your gravity and dignity, and yet avoid making yourself
853
+ disagreeable.
854
+
855
+ When you are going to confer with anyone, and especially with one who
856
+ seems your superior, represent to yourself how Socrates or Zeno[6] would
857
+ behave in such a case, and you will not be at a loss to meet properly
858
+ whatever may occur.
859
+
860
+ When you are going before anyone in power, fancy to yourself that you may
861
+ not find him at home, that you may be shut out, that the doors may not be
862
+ opened to you, that he may not notice you. If, with all this, it be your
863
+ duty to go, bear what happens and never say to yourself, "It was not
864
+ worth so much"; for this is vulgar, and like a man bewildered by
865
+ externals.
866
+
867
+ In company, avoid a frequent and excessive mention of your own actions
868
+ and dangers. For however agreeable it may be to yourself to allude to the
869
+ risks you have run, it is not equally agreeable to others to hear your
870
+ adventures. Avoid likewise an endeavor to excite laughter, for this may
871
+ readily slide you into vulgarity, and, besides, may be apt to lower you
872
+ in the esteem of your acquaintance. Approaches to indecent discourse are
873
+ likewise dangerous. Therefore, when anything of this sort happens, use
874
+ the first fit opportunity to rebuke him who makes advances that way, or,
875
+ at least, by silence and blushing and a serious look show yourself to be
876
+ displeased by such talk.
877
+
878
+ XXXIV
879
+
880
+ If you are dazzled by the semblance of any promised pleasure, guard
881
+ yourself against being bewildered by it; but let the affair wait your
882
+ leisure, and procure yourself some delay. Then bring to your mind both
883
+ points of time--that in which you shall enjoy the pleasure, and that in
884
+ which you will repent and reproach yourself, after you have enjoyed
885
+ it--and set before you, in opposition to these, how you will rejoice and
886
+ applaud yourself if you abstain. And even though it should appear to you
887
+ a seasonable gratification, take heed that its enticements and
888
+ allurements and seductions may not subdue you, but set in opposition to
889
+ this how much better it is to be conscious of having gained so great a
890
+ victory.
891
+
892
+ XXXV
893
+
894
+ When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done,
895
+ never shrink from being seen to do it, even though the world should
896
+ misunderstand it; for if you are not acting rightly, shun the action
897
+ itself; if you are, why fear those who wrongly censure you?
898
+
899
+ XXXVI
900
+
901
+ As the proposition, "either it is day or it is night," has much force in
902
+ a disjunctive argument, but none at all in a conjunctive one, so, at a
903
+ feast, to choose the largest share is very suitable to the bodily
904
+ appetite, but utterly inconsistent with the social spirit of the
905
+ entertainment. Remember, then, when you eat with another, not only the
906
+ value to the body of those things which are set before you, but also the
907
+ value of proper courtesy toward your host.
908
+
909
+ XXXVII
910
+
911
+ If you have assumed any character beyond your strength, you have both
912
+ demeaned yourself ill in that and quitted one which you might have
913
+ supported.
914
+
915
+ XXXVIII
916
+
917
+ As in walking you take care not to tread upon a nail, or turn your foot,
918
+ so likewise take care not to hurt the ruling faculty of your mind. And if
919
+ we were to guard against this in every action, we should enter upon
920
+ action more safely.
921
+
922
+ XXXIX
923
+
924
+ The body is to everyone the proper measure of its possessions, as the
925
+ foot is of the shoe. If, therefore, you stop at this, you will keep the
926
+ measure; but if you move beyond it, you must necessarily be carried
927
+ forward, as down a precipice; as in the case of a shoe, if you go beyond
928
+ its fitness to the foot, it comes first to be gilded, then purple, and
929
+ then studded with jewels. For to that which once exceeds the fit measure
930
+ there is no bound.
931
+
932
+ XL
933
+
934
+ Women from fourteen years old are flattered by men with the title of
935
+ mistresses. Therefore, perceiving that they are regarded only as
936
+ qualified to give men pleasure, they begin to adorn themselves, and in
937
+ that to place all their hopes. It is worth while, therefore, to try that
938
+ they may perceive themselves honored only so far as they appear beautiful
939
+ in their demeanor and modestly virtuous.
940
+
941
+ XLI
942
+
943
+ It is a mark of want of intellect to spend much time in things relating
944
+ to the body, as to be immoderate in exercises, in eating and drinking,
945
+ and in the discharge of other animal functions. These things should be
946
+ done incidentally and our main strength be applied to our reason.
947
+
948
+ XLII
949
+
950
+ When any person does ill by you, or speaks ill of you, remember that he
951
+ acts or speaks from an impression that it is right for him to do so. Now
952
+ it is not possible that he should follow what appears right to you, but
953
+ only what appears so to himself. Therefore, if he judges from false
954
+ appearances, he is the person hurt, since he, too, is the person
955
+ deceived. For if anyone takes a true proposition to be false, the
956
+ proposition is not hurt, but only the man is deceived. Setting out, then,
957
+ from these principles, you will meekly bear with a person who reviles
958
+ you, for you will say upon every occasion, "It seemed so to him."
959
+
960
+ XLIII
961
+
962
+ Everything has two handles: one by which it may be borne, another by
963
+ which it cannot. If your brother acts unjustly, do not lay hold on the
964
+ affair by the handle of his injustice, for by that it cannot be borne,
965
+ but rather by the opposite--that he is your brother, that he was brought
966
+ up with you; and thus you will lay hold on it as it is to be borne.
967
+
968
+ XLIV
969
+
970
+ These reasonings have no logical connection: "I am richer than you,
971
+ therefore I am your superior." "I am more eloquent than you, therefore I
972
+ am your superior." The true logical connection is rather this: "I am
973
+ richer than you, therefore my possessions must exceed yours." "I am more
974
+ eloquent than you, therefore my style must surpass yours." But you, after
975
+ all, consist neither in property nor in style.
976
+
977
+ XLV
978
+
979
+ Does anyone bathe hastily? Do not say that he does it ill, but hastily.
980
+ Does anyone drink much wine? Do not say that he does ill, but that he
981
+ drinks a great deal. For unless you perfectly understand his motives, how
982
+ should you know if he acts ill? Thus you will not risk yielding to any
983
+ appearances but such as you fully comprehend.
984
+
985
+ XLVI
986
+
987
+ Never proclaim yourself a philosopher, nor make much talk among the
988
+ ignorant about your principles, but show them by actions. Thus, at an
989
+ entertainment, do not discourse how people ought to eat, but eat as you
990
+ ought. For remember that thus Socrates also universally avoided all
991
+ ostentation. And when persons came to him and desired to be introduced by
992
+ him to philosophers, he took them and introduced them; so well did he
993
+ bear being overlooked. So if ever there should be among the ignorant any
994
+ discussion of principles, be for the most part silent. For there is great
995
+ danger in hastily throwing out what is undigested. And if anyone tells
996
+ you that you know nothing, and you are not nettled at it, then you may be
997
+ sure that you have really entered on your work. For sheep do not hastily
998
+ throw up the grass to show the shepherds how much they have eaten, but,
999
+ inwardly digesting their food, they produce it outwardly in wool and
1000
+ milk. Thus, therefore, do you not make an exhibition before the ignorant
1001
+ of your principles, but of the actions to which their digestion gives
1002
+ rise.
1003
+
1004
+ XLVII
1005
+
1006
+ When you have learned to nourish your body frugally, do not pique
1007
+ yourself upon it; nor, if you drink water, be saying upon every occasion,
1008
+ "I drink water." But first consider how much more frugal are the poor
1009
+ than we, and how much more patient of hardship. If at any time you would
1010
+ inure yourself by exercise to labor and privation, for your own sake and
1011
+ not for the public, do not attempt great feats; but when you are
1012
+ violently thirsty, just rinse your mouth with water, and tell nobody.
1013
+
1014
+ XLVIII
1015
+
1016
+ The condition and characteristic of a vulgar person is that he never
1017
+ looks for either help or harm from himself, but only from externals. The
1018
+ condition and characteristic of a philosopher is that he looks to himself
1019
+ for all help or harm. The marks of a proficient are that he censures no
1020
+ one, praises no one, blames no one, accuses no one; says nothing
1021
+ concerning himself as being anybody or knowing anything. When he is in
1022
+ any instance hindered or restrained, he accuses himself; and if he is
1023
+ praised, he smiles to himself at the person who praises him; and if he is
1024
+ censured, he makes no defense. But he goes about with the caution of a
1025
+ convalescent, careful of interference with anything that is doing well
1026
+ but not yet quite secure. He restrains desire; he transfers his aversion
1027
+ to those things only which thwart the proper use of our own will; he
1028
+ employs his energies moderately in all directions; if he appears stupid
1029
+ or ignorant, he does not care; and, in a word, he keeps watch over
1030
+ himself as over an enemy and one in ambush.
1031
+
1032
+ XLIX
1033
+
1034
+ When anyone shows himself vain on being able to understand and interpret
1035
+ the works of Chrysippus,[7] say to yourself: "Unless Chrysippus had
1036
+ written obscurely, this person would have had nothing to be vain of. But
1037
+ what do I desire? To understand nature, and follow her. I ask, then, who
1038
+ interprets her; and hearing that Chrysippus does, I have recourse to him.
1039
+ I do not understand his writings. I seek, therefore, one to interpret
1040
+ _them_." So far there is nothing to value myself upon. And when I find an
1041
+ interpreter, what remains is to make use of his instructions. This alone
1042
+ is the valuable thing. But if I admire merely the interpretation, what do
1043
+ I become more than a grammarian, instead of a philosopher, except,
1044
+ indeed, that instead of Homer I interpret Chrysippus? When anyone,
1045
+ therefore, desires me to read Chrysippus to him, I rather blush when I
1046
+ cannot exhibit actions that are harmonious and consonant with his
1047
+ discourse.
1048
+
1049
+ L
1050
+
1051
+ Whatever rules you have adopted, abide by them as laws, and as if you
1052
+ would be impious to transgress them; and do not regard what anyone says
1053
+ of you, for this, after all, is no concern of yours. How long, then, will
1054
+ you delay to demand of yourself the noblest improvements, and in no
1055
+ instance to transgress the judgments of reason? You have received the
1056
+ philosophic principles with which you ought to be conversant; and you
1057
+ have been conversant with them. For what other master, then, do you wait
1058
+ as an excuse for this delay in self-reformation? You are no longer a boy
1059
+ but a grown man. If, therefore, you will be negligent and slothful, and
1060
+ always add procrastination to procrastination, purpose to purpose, and
1061
+ fix day after day in which you will attend to yourself, you will
1062
+ insensibly continue to accomplish nothing and, living and dying, remain
1063
+ of vulgar mind. This instant, then, think yourself worthy of living as a
1064
+ man grown up and a proficient. Let whatever appears to be the best be to
1065
+ you an inviolable law. And if any instance of pain or pleasure, glory or
1066
+ disgrace, be set before you, remember that now is the combat, now the
1067
+ Olympiad comes on, nor can it be put off; and that by one failure and
1068
+ defeat honor may be lost or--won. Thus Socrates became perfect, improving
1069
+ himself by everything, following reason alone. And though you are not yet
1070
+ a Socrates, you ought, however, to live as one seeking to be a Socrates.
1071
+
1072
+ LI
1073
+
1074
+ The first and most necessary topic in philosophy is the practical
1075
+ application of principles, as, _We ought not to lie_; the second is that
1076
+ of demonstrations as, _Why it is that we ought not to lie_; the third,
1077
+ that which gives strength and logical connection to the other two, as,
1078
+ _Why this is a demonstration_. For what is demonstration? What is a
1079
+ consequence? What a contradiction? What truth? What falsehood? The third
1080
+ point is then necessary on account of the second; and the second on
1081
+ account of the first. But the most necessary, and that whereon we ought
1082
+ to rest, is the first. But we do just the contrary. For we spend all our
1083
+ time on the third point and employ all our diligence about that, and
1084
+ entirely neglect the first. Therefore, at the same time that we lie, we
1085
+ are very ready to show how it is demonstrated that lying is wrong.
1086
+
1087
+ Upon all occasions we ought to have these maxims ready at hand:
1088
+
1089
+ Conduct me, Zeus, and thou, O Destiny,
1090
+ Wherever your decrees have fixed my lot.
1091
+ I follow cheerfully; and, did I not,
1092
+ Wicked and wretched, I must follow still.[8]
1093
+
1094
+ Who'er yields properly to Fate is deemed
1095
+ Wise among men, and knows the laws of Heaven.[9]
1096
+
1097
+ And this third:
1098
+
1099
+ "O Crito, if it thus pleases the gods, thus let it be."[10]
1100
+
1101
+ "Anytus and Melitus may kill me indeed; but hurt me they cannot."[11]
1102
+
1103
+ Footnotes
1104
+
1105
+ [1]Happiness, the effect of virtue, is the mark which God has set up for
1106
+ us to aim at. Our missing it is no work of His; nor so properly
1107
+ anything real, as a mere negative and failure of our own.
1108
+
1109
+ [2][Chapter XV of the third book of the _Discourses_, which, with the
1110
+ exception of some very trifling differences, is the same as chapter
1111
+ XXIX of the _Enchiridion_.--Ed.]
1112
+
1113
+ [3]Euphrates was a philosopher of Syria, whose character is described,
1114
+ with the highest encomiums, by Pliny the Younger, _Letters_ I. 10.
1115
+
1116
+ [4][The two inimical sons of Oedipus, who killed each other in
1117
+ battle.--Ed.]
1118
+
1119
+ [5][This refers to an anecdote given in full by Simplicius, in his
1120
+ commentary on this passage, of a man assaulted and killed on his way
1121
+ to consult the oracle, while his companion, deserting him, took refuge
1122
+ in the temple till cast out by the Deity.--Tr.]
1123
+
1124
+ [6][Reference is to Zeno of Cyprus (335-263 B.C.), the founder of the
1125
+ Stoic school.--Ed.]
1126
+
1127
+ [7][Chrysippus (_c._ 280-207 B.C.) was a Stoic philosopher who became
1128
+ head of the Stoa after Cleanthes. His works, which are lost, were most
1129
+ influential and were generally accepted as the authoritative
1130
+ interpretation of orthodox Stoic philosophy.--Ed.]
1131
+
1132
+ [8]Cleanthes, in Diogenes Laertius, quoted also by Seneca, _Epistle_ 107.
1133
+
1134
+ [9]Euripides, Fragments.
1135
+
1136
+ [10]Plato, _Crito_, Chap. XVII.
1137
+
1138
+ [11]Plato, _Apology_, Chap. XVIII.
1139
+
1140
+ The Library of Liberal Arts
1141
+
1142
+ Aeschylus: _Prometheus Bound_. Tr. E. B. Browning. (LLA 24) .40
1143
+ *Alembert, d': _Introduction to the Encyclopédie of 1751_. Tr. T.
1144
+ D. Lockwood. (LLA 88) .80
1145
+ *Aristotle: _Nicomachean Ethics_. Tr. M. Ostwald. (LLA 75) .80
1146
+ ----: _On the Art of Poetry_. Tr. S. H. Butcher. (LLA 6) .50
1147
+ *----: _On Poetry and Style_. Tr. G. M. A. Grube. (LLA 68) .75
1148
+ Augustine: _On Christian Doctrine_. Tr. D. W. Robertson, Jr. (LLA
1149
+ 80) .95
1150
+ *Bacon: _The New Organon_. (LLA 97) 1.00
1151
+ *Beccaria: _Of Crimes and Punishments_. Tr. H. Paolucci & V.
1152
+ Caporale. (LLA 107) .60
1153
+ Bergson: _An Introduction to Metaphysics_. Tr. T. E. Hulme. (LLA
1154
+ 10) .40
1155
+ *Berkeley: _An Essay Toward a New Theory of Vision & The Theory
1156
+ of Vision Vindicated_. (LLA 83) .80
1157
+ ----: _A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge_.
1158
+ (LLA 53) .75
1159
+ ----: _Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous_. (LLA 39) .75
1160
+ _Boccaccio on Poetry._ Tr. C. G. Osgood. (LLA 82) _cl. $3.50_ 1.25
1161
+ *Boethius: _The Consolation of Philosophy_. Tr. R. H. Green. (LLA
1162
+ 86) .95
1163
+ Bonaventura: _The Mind's Road to God_. Tr. G. Boas. (LLA 32) .50
1164
+ Bowman: _The Absurdity of Christianity and Other Essays_. (LLA
1165
+ 56) .75
1166
+ Bradley: _Ethical Studies (Selected Essays)_. (LLA 28) _cl. $2.00_ .85
1167
+ *Burke: _On the Sublime and Beautiful_. (LLA 99) .90
1168
+ ----: _Reflections on the Revolution in France_. (LLA 46)
1169
+ _cl. $3.50_ 1.25
1170
+ Butler: _Five Sermons_. (LLA 21) .60
1171
+ Calvin: _On the Christian Faith_. (LLA 93) .95
1172
+ ----: _On God and Political Duty_. (LLA 23) .60
1173
+ *_The Cid._ Tr. J. G. Markley. (LLA 77) .75
1174
+ Cornford: _Plato and Parmenides_. (LLA 102) 1.60
1175
+ ----: _Plato's Cosmology_. (LLA 101) 1.75
1176
+ ----: _Plato's Theory of Knowledge_. (LLA 100) 1.75
1177
+ *Dante: _De vulgari eloquentia_. Tr. W. T. H. Jackson. (LLA 85) .60
1178
+ ----: _On World-Government (De Monarchia)_. Tr. H. W. Schneider.
1179
+ (LLA 15) .60
1180
+ Descartes: _Discourse on Method_. Tr. L. J. Lafleur. (LLA 19) .50
1181
+ *----: _Discourse on Method and Meditations_. Tr. L. J. Lafleur.
1182
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1183
+ ----: _Meditations_. Tr. L. J. Lafleur. (LLA 29) .60
1184
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1185
+ Garnett. (LLA 63) .40
1186
+ *Dryden: _An Essay of Dramatic Poesy_. (LLA 104) .60
1187
+ Emerson: _Nature_. (LLA 2) .40
1188
+ Epictetus: _The Enchiridion_. Tr. T. W. Higginson. (LLA 8) .40
1189
+ Erasmus: _Ten Colloquies of Erasmus_. Tr. C. R. Thompson. (LLA
1190
+ 48) _cl. $3.00_ .90
1191
+ Euripides: _Electra_. Tr. M. Hadas. (LLA 26) .40
1192
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1193
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1194
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1195
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1196
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1197
+ Harrington: _The Political Writings of James Harrington_. (LLA
1198
+ 38) _cl. $3.00_ .90
1199
+ Hegel: _Reason in History_. Tr. R. S. Hartman. (LLA 35)
1200
+ _cl. $2.75_ .75
1201
+ Hesiod: _Theogony_. Tr. N. O. Brown. (LLA 36) .50
1202
+ Hobbes: _Leviathan I-II_. (LLA 69) 1.00
1203
+ *Hume.: _David Hume's Literary Essays_. (LLA 84) .90
1204
+ ----: _David Hume's Political Essays_. (LLA 34) _cl. $3.00_ .90
1205
+ ----: _An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding_. (LLA 49) .80
1206
+ ----: _An Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals_. (LLA 62) .75
1207
+ *Kant: _Critique of the Aesthetic Judgment_. Tr. W. Cerf. (LLA
1208
+ 73) 1.25
1209
+ ----: _Critique of Practical Reason_. Tr. L. W. Beck. (LLA 52) .90
1210
+ ----: _Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals_. Tr. T.
1211
+ K. Abbott. (LLA 16) .60
1212
+ ----: _Perpetual Peace_. Tr. M. C. Smith. (LLA 3) .45
1213
+ ----: _Perpetual Peace_. Tr. L. W. Beck. (LLA 54) .50
1214
+ *----: _Perpetual Peace and the Idea of a Universal Commonwealth_.
1215
+ Tr. L. W. Beck. (LLA 96) .75
1216
+ *----: _Philosophy of Right_. Tr. J. Ladd. (LLA 72) 1.25
1217
+ ----: _Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics_. Tr. Mahaffy-Carus;
1218
+ rev. L. W. Beck. (LLA 27) _cl. $2.00_ .85
1219
+ *----: _Religion within the Limits of Reason_. Tr. T. M. Green.
1220
+ (LLA 108) _cl. $3.50_ 1.00
1221
+ Kleist: _The Prince of Homburg_. Tr. C. E. Passage. (LLA 60) .75
1222
+ *Le Bon: _Mass Psychology (The Crowd)_. (LLA 90) .80
1223
+ *Leibniz: _Monadology and Other Philosophical Essays_. Tr. P. &
1224
+ A. Schrecker. (LLA 94) .90
1225
+ *Lessing: _Laocoön_. Tr. E. A. McCormick. (LLA 78) .95
1226
+ _The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes._ Tr. J. G. Markley. (LLA 37) .50
1227
+ Locke: _A Letter Concerning Toleration_. (LLA 22) .40
1228
+ ----: _The Second Treatise of Government_. (LLA 31) _cl. $2.50_ .80
1229
+ Longinus: _On Great Writing (On the Sublime)_. Tr. G. M. A.
1230
+ Grube. (LLA 79) .60
1231
+ Machiavelli: _Mandragola_. Tr. A. & H. Paolucci. (LLA 58) .60
1232
+ Mill, J.: _An Essay on Government_. (LLA 47) .50
1233
+ Mill, J. S.: _Autobiography_. (LLA 91) .90
1234
+ *----: _Nature and Utility of Religion; Two Essays_. (LLA 81) .60
1235
+ ----: _On Liberty_. (LLA 61) .65
1236
+ ----: _Considerations on Representative Government_. (LLA 71) .90
1237
+ Mill, J. S. (cont'd): _Theism_. (LLA 64) .75
1238
+ ----: _Utilitarianism_. (LLA 1) .50
1239
+ *Moliere: _Tartuffe_. Tr. R. W. Hartle. (LLA 87) .50
1240
+ Nietzsche: _The Use and Abuse of History_. (LLA 11) .50
1241
+ Paine: _The Age of Reason_. (LLA 5) .50
1242
+ Plato: _Euthyphro, Apology, Crito_. Tr. F. J. Church. (LLA 4) .50
1243
+ ----: _Gorgias_. Tr. W. C. Helmbold. (LLA 20) .75
1244
+ ----: _Meno_. Tr. B. Jowett. (LLA 12) .40
1245
+ ----: _Phaedo_. Tr. F. J. Church. (LLA 30) .50
1246
+ ----: _Phaedrus_. Tr. W. C. Helmbold & W. G. Rabinowitz. (LLA 40) .60
1247
+ *----: _Philebus_. Tr. K. Herbert. (LLA 41) .75
1248
+ ----: _Protagoras_. Tr. B. Jowett. (LLA 59) .75
1249
+ ----: _Statesman_. Tr. J. B. Skemp. (LLA 57) .75
1250
+ ----: _Symposium_. Tr. B. Jowett. (LLA 7) .40
1251
+ *----: _Theaetetus_. Tr. F. M. Cornford. (LLA 105) .80
1252
+ ----: _Timaeus_. Tr. F. M. Cornford. (LLA 106) .80
1253
+ Plautus: _The Haunted House (Mostellaria)_. Tr. F. O. Copley.
1254
+ (LLA 42) .45
1255
+ ----: _The Menaechmi_. Tr. F. O. Copley. (LLA 17) .45
1256
+ ----: _The Rope (Rudens)_. Tr. F. O. Copley. (LLA 43) .45
1257
+ *Pope: _Essay on Man_. (LLA 103) .50
1258
+ Post: _Significant Cases in British Constitutional Law_. (LLA 66)
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+ _cl. $3.50_ 1.25
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+ *Rousseau: _Two Discourses_. Tr. V. Gourevitch. (LLA 109) .80
1261
+ *Russell: _Selected Essays_. (LLA 74) .90
1262
+ Schneider: _Sources of Contemporary Philosophical Realism in
1263
+ America_. (LLA 92) .60
1264
+ *Schopenhauer: _Essay on the Freedom of the Will_. Tr. K.
1265
+ Kolenda. (LLA 70) .80
1266
+ Seneca: _Medea_. Tr. M. Hadas. (LLA 55) .45
1267
+ ----: _Oedipus_. Tr. M. Hadas. (LLA 44) .45
1268
+ ----: _Thyestes_. Tr. M. Hadas. (LLA 76) .45
1269
+ *Shelley: _Defence of Poetry_. (LLA 98) .50
1270
+ Sophocles: _Electra_. Tr. R. C. Jebb. (LLA 25) .40
1271
+ Spinoza: _On the Improvement of the Understanding_. Tr. J. Katz.
1272
+ (LLA 67) .50
1273
+ Terence: _Phormio_. Tr. F. O. Copley. (LLA 95) .45
1274
+ ----: _The Woman of Andros_. Tr. F. O. Copley. (LLA 18) .45
1275
+ *Tolstoy: _What Is Art?_ Tr. A. Maude. (LLA 51) .90
1276
+ Whitman: _Democratic Vistas_. (LLA 9) .50
1277
+
1278
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1
+ Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger
2
+
3
+ Apology
4
+
5
+ by Plato
6
+
7
+ Translated by Benjamin Jowett
8
+
9
+ Contents
10
+
11
+ INTRODUCTION
12
+ APOLOGY
13
+
14
+ INTRODUCTION.
15
+
16
+ In what relation the "Apology" of Plato stands to the real defence of
17
+ Socrates, there are no means of determining. It certainly agrees in
18
+ tone and character with the description of Xenophon, who says in the
19
+ "Memorabilia" that Socrates might have been acquitted "if in any
20
+ moderate degree he would have conciliated the favour of the dicasts;"
21
+ and who informs us in another passage, on the testimony of Hermogenes,
22
+ the friend of Socrates, that he had no wish to live; and that the
23
+ divine sign refused to allow him to prepare a defence, and also that
24
+ Socrates himself declared this to be unnecessary, on the ground that
25
+ all his life long he had been preparing against that hour. For the
26
+ speech breathes throughout a spirit of defiance, "_ut non supplex aut
27
+ reus sed magister aut dominus videretur esse judicum_" (Cic. "de Orat."
28
+ i. 54); and the loose and desultory style is an imitation of the
29
+ "accustomed manner" in which Socrates spoke in "the _agora_ and among
30
+ the tables of the money-changers." The allusion in the "Crito" (45 B)
31
+ may, perhaps, be adduced as a further evidence of the literal accuracy
32
+ of some parts (37 C, D). But in the main it must be regarded as the
33
+ ideal of Socrates, according to Plato's conception of him, appearing in
34
+ the greatest and most public scene of his life, and in the height of
35
+ his triumph, when he is weakest, and yet his mastery over mankind is
36
+ greatest, and his habitual irony acquires a new meaning and a sort of
37
+ tragic pathos in the face of death. The facts of his life are summed
38
+ up, and the features of his character are brought out as if by accident
39
+ in the course of the defence. The conversational manner, the seeming
40
+ want of arrangement, the ironical simplicity, are found to result in a
41
+ perfect work of art, which is the portrait of Socrates.
42
+
43
+ Yet some of the topics may have been actually used by Socrates; and the
44
+ recollection of his very words may have rung in the ears of his
45
+ disciple. The "Apology" of Plato may be compared generally with those
46
+ speeches of Thucydides in which he has embodied his conception of the
47
+ lofty character and policy of the great Pericles, and which at the same
48
+ time furnish a commentary on the situation of affairs from the point of
49
+ view of the historian. So in the "Apology" there is an ideal rather
50
+ than a literal truth; much is said which was not said, and is only
51
+ Plato's view of the situation. Plato was not, like Xenophon, a
52
+ chronicler of facts; he does not appear in any of his writings to have
53
+ aimed at literal accuracy. He is not therefore to be supplemented from
54
+ the Memorabilia and Symposium of Xenophon, who belongs to an entirely
55
+ different class of writers. The Apology of Plato is not the report of
56
+ what Socrates said, but an elaborate composition, quite as much so in
57
+ fact as one of the Dialogues. And we may perhaps even indulge in the
58
+ fancy that the actual defence of Socrates was as much greater than the
59
+ Platonic defence as the master was greater than the disciple. But in
60
+ any case, some of the words used by him must have been remembered, and
61
+ some of the facts recorded must have actually occurred. It is
62
+ significant that Plato is said to have been present at the defence
63
+ (Apol.), as he is also said to have been absent at the last scene in
64
+ the "Phædo". Is it fanciful to suppose that he meant to give the stamp
65
+ of authenticity to the one and not to the other?--especially when we
66
+ consider that these two passages are the only ones in which Plato makes
67
+ mention of himself. The circumstance that Plato was to be one of his
68
+ sureties for the payment of the fine which he proposed has the
69
+ appearance of truth. More suspicious is the statement that Socrates
70
+ received the first impulse to his favourite calling of cross-examining
71
+ the world from the Oracle of Delphi; for he must already have been
72
+ famous before Chaerephon went to consult the Oracle (Riddell), and the
73
+ story is of a kind which is very likely to have been invented. On the
74
+ whole we arrive at the conclusion that the "Apology" is true to the
75
+ character of Socrates, but we cannot show that any single sentence in
76
+ it was actually spoken by him. It breathes the spirit of Socrates, but
77
+ has been cast anew in the mould of Plato.
78
+
79
+ There is not much in the other Dialogues which can be compared with the
80
+ "Apology". The same recollection of his master may have been present to
81
+ the mind of Plato when depicting the sufferings of the Just in the
82
+ "Republic". The "Crito" may also be regarded as a sort of appendage to
83
+ the "Apology", in which Socrates, who has defied the judges, is
84
+ nevertheless represented as scrupulously obedient to the laws. The
85
+ idealization of the sufferer is carried still further in the
86
+ "Georgias", in which the thesis is maintained, that "to suffer is
87
+ better than to do evil;" and the art of rhetoric is described as only
88
+ useful for the purpose of self-accusation. The parallelisms which occur
89
+ in the so-called "Apology" of Xenophon are not worth noticing, because
90
+ the writing in which they are contained is manifestly spurious. The
91
+ statements of the "Memorabilia" respecting the trial and death of
92
+ Socrates agree generally with Plato; but they have lost the flavour of
93
+ Socratic irony in the narrative of Xenophon.
94
+
95
+ The "Apology" or Platonic defence of Socrates is divided into three
96
+ parts: 1st. The defence properly so called; 2nd. The shorter address in
97
+ mitigation of the penalty; 3rd. The last words of prophetic rebuke and
98
+ exhortation.
99
+
100
+ The first part commences with an apology for his colloquial style; he
101
+ is, as he has always been, the enemy of rhetoric, and knows of no
102
+ rhetoric but truth; he will not falsify his character by making a
103
+ speech. Then he proceeds to divide his accusers into two classes;
104
+ first, there is the nameless accuser--public opinion. All the world from
105
+ their earliest years had heard that he was a corrupter of youth, and
106
+ had seen him caricatured in the "Clouds" of Aristophanes. Secondly,
107
+ there are the professed accusers, who are but the mouth-piece of the
108
+ others. The accusations of both might be summed up in a formula. The
109
+ first say, "Socrates is an evil-doer and a curious person, searching
110
+ into things under the earth and above the heaven; and making the worse
111
+ appear the better cause, and teaching all this to others." The second,
112
+ "Socrates is an evil-doer and corrupter of the youth, who does not
113
+ receive the gods whom the state receives, but introduces other new
114
+ divinities." These last words appear to have been the actual indictment
115
+ (compare Xen. Mem.); and the previous formula, which is a summary of
116
+ public opinion, assumes the same legal style.
117
+
118
+ The answer begins by clearing up a confusion. In the representations of
119
+ the Comic poets, and in the opinion of the multitude, he had been
120
+ identified with the teachers of physical science and with the Sophists.
121
+ But this was an error. For both of them he professes a respect in the
122
+ open court, which contrasts with his manner of speaking about them in
123
+ other places. (Compare for Anaxagoras, Phædo, Laws; for the Sophists,
124
+ Meno, Republic, Tim., Theaet., Soph., etc.) But at the same time he
125
+ shows that he is not one of them. Of natural philosophy he knows
126
+ nothing; not that he despises such pursuits, but the fact is that he is
127
+ ignorant of them, and never says a word about them. Nor is he paid for
128
+ giving instruction--that is another mistaken notion:--he has nothing to
129
+ teach. But he commends Evenus for teaching virtue at such a "moderate"
130
+ rate as five minæ. Something of the "accustomed irony," which may
131
+ perhaps be expected to sleep in the ear of the multitude, is lurking
132
+ here.
133
+
134
+ He then goes on to explain the reason why he is in such an evil name.
135
+ That had arisen out of a peculiar mission which he had taken upon
136
+ himself. The enthusiastic Chaerephon (probably in anticipation of the
137
+ answer which he received) had gone to Delphi and asked the oracle if
138
+ there was any man wiser than Socrates; and the answer was, that there
139
+ was no man wiser. What could be the meaning of this--that he who knew
140
+ nothing, and knew that he knew nothing, should be declared by the
141
+ oracle to be the wisest of men? Reflecting upon the answer, he
142
+ determined to refute it by finding "a wiser;" and first he went to the
143
+ politicians, and then to the poets, and then to the craftsmen, but
144
+ always with the same result--he found that they knew nothing, or hardly
145
+ anything more than himself; and that the little advantage which in some
146
+ cases they possessed was more than counter-balanced by their conceit of
147
+ knowledge. He knew nothing, and knew that he knew nothing: they knew
148
+ little or nothing, and imagined that they knew all things. Thus he had
149
+ passed his life as a sort of missionary in detecting the pretended
150
+ wisdom of mankind; and this occupation had quite absorbed him and taken
151
+ him away both from public and private affairs. Young men of the richer
152
+ sort had made a pastime of the same pursuit, "which was not unamusing."
153
+ And hence bitter enmities had arisen; the professors of knowledge had
154
+ revenged themselves by calling him a villainous corrupter of youth, and
155
+ by repeating the commonplaces about atheism and materialism and
156
+ sophistry, which are the stock-accusations against all philosophers
157
+ when there is nothing else to be said of them.
158
+
159
+ The second accusation he meets by interrogating Meletus, who is present
160
+ and can be interrogated. "If he is the corrupter, who is the improver
161
+ of the citizens?" (Compare Meno.) "All men everywhere." But how absurd,
162
+ how contrary to analogy is this! How inconceivable too, that he should
163
+ make the citizens worse when he has to live with them. This surely
164
+ cannot be intentional; and if unintentional, he ought to have been
165
+ instructed by Meletus, and not accused in the court.
166
+
167
+ But there is another part of the indictment which says that he teaches
168
+ men not to receive the gods whom the city receives, and has other new
169
+ gods. "Is that the way in which he is supposed to corrupt the youth?"
170
+ "Yes, it is." "Has he only new gods, or none at all?" "None at all."
171
+ "What, not even the sun and moon?" "No; why, he says that the sun is a
172
+ stone, and the moon earth." That, replies Socrates, is the old
173
+ confusion about Anaxagoras; the Athenian people are not so ignorant as
174
+ to attribute to the influence of Socrates notions which have found
175
+ their way into the drama, and may be learned at the theatre. Socrates
176
+ undertakes to show that Meletus (rather unjustifiably) has been
177
+ compounding a riddle in this part of the indictment: "There are no
178
+ gods, but Socrates believes in the existence of the sons of gods, which
179
+ is absurd."
180
+
181
+ Leaving Meletus, who has had enough words spent upon him, he returns to
182
+ the original accusation. The question may be asked, Why will he persist
183
+ in following a profession which leads him to death? Why?--because he
184
+ must remain at his post where the god has placed him, as he remained at
185
+ Potidaea, and Amphipolis, and Delium, where the generals placed him.
186
+ Besides, he is not so overwise as to imagine that he knows whether
187
+ death is a good or an evil; and he is certain that desertion of his
188
+ duty is an evil. Anytus is quite right in saying that they should never
189
+ have indicted him if they meant to let him go. For he will certainly
190
+ obey God rather than man; and will continue to preach to all men of all
191
+ ages the necessity of virtue and improvement; and if they refuse to
192
+ listen to him he will still persevere and reprove them. This is his way
193
+ of corrupting the youth, which he will not cease to follow in obedience
194
+ to the god, even if a thousand deaths await him.
195
+
196
+ He is desirous that they should let him live--not for his own sake, but
197
+ for theirs; because he is their heaven-sent friend (and they will never
198
+ have such another), or, as he may be ludicrously described, he is the
199
+ gadfly who stirs the generous steed into motion. Why then has he never
200
+ taken part in public affairs? Because the familiar divine voice has
201
+ hindered him; if he had been a public man, and had fought for the
202
+ right, as he would certainly have fought against the many, he would not
203
+ have lived, and could therefore have done no good. Twice in public
204
+ matters he has risked his life for the sake of justice--once at the
205
+ trial of the generals; and again in resistance to the tyrannical
206
+ commands of the Thirty.
207
+
208
+ But, though not a public man, he has passed his days in instructing the
209
+ citizens without fee or reward--this was his mission. Whether his
210
+ disciples have turned out well or ill, he cannot justly be charged with
211
+ the result, for he never promised to teach them anything. They might
212
+ come if they liked, and they might stay away if they liked: and they
213
+ did come, because they found an amusement in hearing the pretenders to
214
+ wisdom detected. If they have been corrupted, their elder relatives (if
215
+ not themselves) might surely come into court and witness against him,
216
+ and there is an opportunity still for them to appear. But their fathers
217
+ and brothers all appear in court (including "this" Plato), to witness
218
+ on his behalf; and if their relatives are corrupted, at least they are
219
+ uncorrupted; "and they are my witnesses. For they know that I am
220
+ speaking the truth, and that Meletus is lying."
221
+
222
+ This is about all that he has to say. He will not entreat the judges to
223
+ spare his life; neither will he present a spectacle of weeping
224
+ children, although he, too, is not made of "rock or oak." Some of the
225
+ judges themselves may have complied with this practice on similar
226
+ occasions, and he trusts that they will not be angry with him for not
227
+ following their example. But he feels that such conduct brings
228
+ discredit on the name of Athens: he feels too, that the judge has sworn
229
+ not to give away justice; and he cannot be guilty of the impiety of
230
+ asking the judge to break his oath, when he is himself being tried for
231
+ impiety.
232
+
233
+ As he expected, and probably intended, he is convicted. And now the
234
+ tone of the speech, instead of being more conciliatory, becomes more
235
+ lofty and commanding. Anytus proposes death as the penalty: and what
236
+ counter-proposition shall he make? He, the benefactor of the Athenian
237
+ people, whose whole life has been spent in doing them good, should at
238
+ least have the Olympic victor's reward of maintenance in the Prytaneum.
239
+ Or why should he propose any counter-penalty when he does not know
240
+ whether death, which Anytus proposes, is a good or an evil? And he is
241
+ certain that imprisonment is an evil, exile is an evil. Loss of money
242
+ might be an evil, but then he has none to give; perhaps he can make up
243
+ a mina. Let that be the penalty, or, if his friends wish, thirty minæ;
244
+ for which they will be excellent securities.
245
+
246
+ [_He is condemned to death._]
247
+
248
+ He is an old man already, and the Athenians will gain nothing but
249
+ disgrace by depriving him of a few years of life. Perhaps he could have
250
+ escaped, if he had chosen to throw down his arms and entreat for his
251
+ life. But he does not at all repent of the manner of his defence; he
252
+ would rather die in his own fashion than live in theirs. For the
253
+ penalty of unrighteousness is swifter than death; that penalty has
254
+ already overtaken his accusers as death will soon overtake him.
255
+
256
+ And now, as one who is about to die, he will prophesy to them. They
257
+ have put him to death in order to escape the necessity of giving an
258
+ account of their lives. But his death "will be the seed" of many
259
+ disciples who will convince them of their evil ways, and will come
260
+ forth to reprove them in harsher terms, because they are younger and
261
+ more inconsiderate.
262
+
263
+ He would like to say a few words, while there is time, to those who
264
+ would have acquitted him. He wishes them to know that the divine sign
265
+ never interrupted him in the course of his defence; the reason of
266
+ which, as he conjectures, is that the death to which he is going is a
267
+ good and not an evil. For either death is a long sleep, the best of
268
+ sleeps, or a journey to another world in which the souls of the dead
269
+ are gathered together, and in which there may be a hope of seeing the
270
+ heroes of old--in which, too, there are just judges; and as all are
271
+ immortal, there can be no fear of any one suffering death for his
272
+ opinions.
273
+
274
+ Nothing evil can happen to the good man either in life or death, and
275
+ his own death has been permitted by the gods, because it was better for
276
+ him to depart; and therefore he forgives his judges because they have
277
+ done him no harm, although they never meant to do him any good.
278
+
279
+ He has a last request to make to them--that they will trouble his sons
280
+ as he has troubled them, if they appear to prefer riches to virtue, or
281
+ to think themselves something when they are nothing.
282
+
283
+ "Few persons will be found to wish that Socrates should have defended
284
+ himself otherwise,"--if, as we must add, his defence was that with which
285
+ Plato has provided him. But leaving this question, which does not admit
286
+ of a precise solution, we may go on to ask what was the impression
287
+ which Plato in the "Apology" intended to give of the character and
288
+ conduct of his master in the last great scene? Did he intend to
289
+ represent him (1) as employing sophistries; (2) as designedly
290
+ irritating the judges? Or are these sophistries to be regarded as
291
+ belonging to the age in which he lived and to his personal character,
292
+ and this apparent haughtiness as flowing from the natural elevation of
293
+ his position?
294
+
295
+ For example, when he says that it is absurd to suppose that one man is
296
+ the corrupter and all the rest of the world the improvers of the youth;
297
+ or, when he argues that he never could have corrupted the men with whom
298
+ he had to live; or, when he proves his belief in the gods because he
299
+ believes in the sons of gods, is he serious or jesting? It may be
300
+ observed that these sophisms all occur in his cross-examination of
301
+ Meletus, who is easily foiled and mastered in the hands of the great
302
+ dialectician. Perhaps he regarded these answers as good enough for his
303
+ accuser, of whom he makes very light. Also there is a touch of irony in
304
+ them, which takes them out of the category of sophistry. (Compare
305
+ Euthyph.)
306
+
307
+ That the manner in which he defends himself about the lives of his
308
+ disciples is not satisfactory, can hardly be denied. Fresh in the
309
+ memory of the Athenians, and detestable as they deserved to be to the
310
+ newly restored democracy, were the names of Alcibiades, Critias,
311
+ Charmides. It is obviously not a sufficient answer that Socrates had
312
+ never professed to teach them anything, and is therefore not justly
313
+ chargeable with their crimes. Yet the defence, when taken out of this
314
+ ironical form, is doubtless sound: that his teaching had nothing to do
315
+ with their evil lives. Here, then, the sophistry is rather in form than
316
+ in substance, though we might desire that to such a serious charge
317
+ Socrates had given a more serious answer.
318
+
319
+ Truly characteristic of Socrates is another point in his answer, which
320
+ may also be regarded as sophistical. He says that "if he has corrupted
321
+ the youth, he must have corrupted them involuntarily." But if, as
322
+ Socrates argues, all evil is involuntary, then all criminals ought to
323
+ be admonished and not punished. In these words the Socratic doctrine of
324
+ the involuntariness of evil is clearly intended to be conveyed. Here
325
+ again, as in the former instance, the defence of Socrates is untrue
326
+ practically, but may be true in some ideal or transcendental sense. The
327
+ commonplace reply, that if he had been guilty of corrupting the youth
328
+ their relations would surely have witnessed against him, with which he
329
+ concludes this part of his defence, is more satisfactory.
330
+
331
+ Again, when Socrates argues that he must believe in the gods because he
332
+ believes in the sons of gods, we must remember that this is a
333
+ refutation not of the original indictment, which is consistent
334
+ enough--"Socrates does not receive the gods whom the city receives, and
335
+ has other new divinities"--but of the interpretation put upon the words
336
+ by Meletus, who has affirmed that he is a downright atheist. To this
337
+ Socrates fairly answers, in accordance with the ideas of the time, that
338
+ a downright atheist cannot believe in the sons of gods or in divine
339
+ things. The notion that demons or lesser divinities are the sons of
340
+ gods is not to be regarded as ironical or sceptical. He is arguing "ad
341
+ hominem" according to the notions of mythology current in his age. Yet
342
+ he abstains from saying that he believed in the gods whom the State
343
+ approved. He does not defend himself, as Xenophon has defended him, by
344
+ appealing to his practice of religion. Probably he neither wholly
345
+ believed, nor disbelieved, in the existence of the popular gods; he had
346
+ no means of knowing about them. According to Plato (compare Phædo;
347
+ Symp.), as well as Xenophon (Memor.), he was punctual in the
348
+ performance of the least religious duties; and he must have believed in
349
+ his own oracular sign, of which he seemed to have an internal witness.
350
+ But the existence of Apollo or Zeus, or the other gods whom the State
351
+ approves, would have appeared to him both uncertain and unimportant in
352
+ comparison of the duty of self-examination, and of those principles of
353
+ truth and right which he deemed to be the foundation of religion.
354
+ (Compare Phaedr.; Euthyph.; Republic.)
355
+
356
+ The second question, whether Plato meant to represent Socrates as
357
+ braving or irritating his judges, must also be answered in the
358
+ negative. His irony, his superiority, his audacity, "regarding not the
359
+ person of man," necessarily flow out of the loftiness of his situation.
360
+ He is not acting a part upon a great occasion, but he is what he has
361
+ been all his life long, "a king of men." He would rather not appear
362
+ insolent, if he could avoid it (ouch os authadizomenos touto lego).
363
+ Neither is he desirous of hastening his own end, for life and death are
364
+ simply indifferent to him. But such a defence as would be acceptable to
365
+ his judges and might procure an acquittal, it is not in his nature to
366
+ make. He will not say or do anything that might pervert the course of
367
+ justice; he cannot have his tongue bound even "in the throat of death."
368
+ With his accusers he will only fence and play, as he had fenced with
369
+ other "improvers of youth," answering the Sophist according to his
370
+ sophistry all his life long. He is serious when he is speaking of his
371
+ own mission, which seems to distinguish him from all other reformers of
372
+ mankind, and originates in an accident. The dedication of himself to
373
+ the improvement of his fellow-citizens is not so remarkable as the
374
+ ironical spirit in which he goes about doing good only in vindication
375
+ of the credit of the oracle, and in the vain hope of finding a wiser
376
+ man than himself. Yet this singular and almost accidental character of
377
+ his mission agrees with the divine sign which, according to our
378
+ notions, is equally accidental and irrational, and is nevertheless
379
+ accepted by him as the guiding principle of his life. Socrates is
380
+ nowhere represented to us as a freethinker or sceptic. There is no
381
+ reason to doubt his sincerity when he speculates on the possibility of
382
+ seeing and knowing the heroes of the Trojan war in another world. On
383
+ the other hand, his hope of immortality is uncertain;--he also conceives
384
+ of death as a long sleep (in this respect differing from the Phædo),
385
+ and at last falls back on resignation to the divine will, and the
386
+ certainty that no evil can happen to the good man either in life or
387
+ death. His absolute truthfulness seems to hinder him from asserting
388
+ positively more than this; and he makes no attempt to veil his
389
+ ignorance in mythology and figures of speech. The gentleness of the
390
+ first part of the speech contrasts with the aggravated, almost
391
+ threatening, tone of the conclusion. He characteristically remarks that
392
+ he will not speak as a rhetorician, that is to say, he will not make a
393
+ regular defence such as Lysias or one of the orators might have
394
+ composed for him, or, according to some accounts, did compose for him.
395
+ But he first procures himself a hearing by conciliatory words. He does
396
+ not attack the Sophists; for they were open to the same charges as
397
+ himself; they were equally ridiculed by the Comic poets, and almost
398
+ equally hateful to Anytus and Meletus. Yet incidentally the antagonism
399
+ between Socrates and the Sophists is allowed to appear. He is poor and
400
+ they are rich; his profession that he teaches nothing is opposed to
401
+ their readiness to teach all things; his talking in the marketplace to
402
+ their private instructions; his tarry-at-home life to their wandering
403
+ from city to city. The tone which he assumes towards them is one of
404
+ real friendliness, but also of concealed irony. Towards Anaxagoras, who
405
+ had disappointed him in his hopes of learning about mind and nature, he
406
+ shows a less kindly feeling, which is also the feeling of Plato in
407
+ other passages (Laws). But Anaxagoras had been dead thirty years, and
408
+ was beyond the reach of persecution.
409
+
410
+ It has been remarked that the prophecy of a new generation of teachers
411
+ who would rebuke and exhort the Athenian people in harsher and more
412
+ violent terms was, as far as we know, never fulfilled. No inference can
413
+ be drawn from this circumstance as to the probability of the words
414
+ attributed to him having been actually uttered. They express the
415
+ aspiration of the first martyr of philosophy, that he would leave
416
+ behind him many followers, accompanied by the not unnatural feeling
417
+ that they would be fiercer and more inconsiderate in their words when
418
+ emancipated from his control.
419
+
420
+ The above remarks must be understood as applying with any degree of
421
+ certainty to the Platonic Socrates only. For, although these or similar
422
+ words may have been spoken by Socrates himself, we cannot exclude the
423
+ possibility, that like so much else, _e.g._ the wisdom of Critias, the
424
+ poem of Solon, the virtues of Charmides, they may have been due only to
425
+ the imagination of Plato. The arguments of those who maintain that the
426
+ Apology was composed during the process, resting on no evidence, do not
427
+ require a serious refutation. Nor are the reasonings of Schleiermacher,
428
+ who argues that the Platonic defence is an exact or nearly exact
429
+ reproduction of the words of Socrates, partly because Plato would not
430
+ have been guilty of the impiety of altering them, and also because many
431
+ points of the defence might have been improved and strengthened, at all
432
+ more conclusive. (See English Translation.) What effect the death of
433
+ Socrates produced on the mind of Plato, we cannot certainly determine;
434
+ nor can we say how he would or must have written under the
435
+ circumstances. We observe that the enmity of Aristophanes to Socrates
436
+ does not prevent Plato from introducing them together in the Symposium
437
+ engaged in friendly intercourse. Nor is there any trace in the
438
+ Dialogues of an attempt to make Anytus or Meletus personally odious in
439
+ the eyes of the Athenian public.
440
+
441
+ APOLOGY
442
+
443
+ How you, O Athenians, have been affected by my accusers, I cannot tell;
444
+ but I know that they almost made me forget who I was--so persuasively
445
+ did they speak; and yet they have hardly uttered a word of truth. But
446
+ of the many falsehoods told by them, there was one which quite amazed
447
+ me;--I mean when they said that you should be upon your guard and not
448
+ allow yourselves to be deceived by the force of my eloquence. To say
449
+ this, when they were certain to be detected as soon as I opened my lips
450
+ and proved myself to be anything but a great speaker, did indeed appear
451
+ to me most shameless--unless by the force of eloquence they mean the
452
+ force of truth; for if such is their meaning, I admit that I am
453
+ eloquent. But in how different a way from theirs! Well, as I was
454
+ saying, they have scarcely spoken the truth at all; but from me you
455
+ shall hear the whole truth: not, however, delivered after their manner
456
+ in a set oration duly ornamented with words and phrases. No, by heaven!
457
+ but I shall use the words and arguments which occur to me at the
458
+ moment; for I am confident in the justice of my cause (Or, I am certain
459
+ that I am right in taking this course.): at my time of life I ought not
460
+ to be appearing before you, O men of Athens, in the character of a
461
+ juvenile orator--let no one expect it of me. And I must beg of you to
462
+ grant me a favour:--If I defend myself in my accustomed manner, and you
463
+ hear me using the words which I have been in the habit of using in the
464
+ agora, at the tables of the money-changers, or anywhere else, I would
465
+ ask you not to be surprised, and not to interrupt me on this account.
466
+ For I am more than seventy years of age, and appearing now for the
467
+ first time in a court of law, I am quite a stranger to the language of
468
+ the place; and therefore I would have you regard me as if I were really
469
+ a stranger, whom you would excuse if he spoke in his native tongue, and
470
+ after the fashion of his country:--Am I making an unfair request of you?
471
+ Never mind the manner, which may or may not be good; but think only of
472
+ the truth of my words, and give heed to that: let the speaker speak
473
+ truly and the judge decide justly.
474
+
475
+ And first, I have to reply to the older charges and to my first
476
+ accusers, and then I will go on to the later ones. For of old I have
477
+ had many accusers, who have accused me falsely to you during many
478
+ years; and I am more afraid of them than of Anytus and his associates,
479
+ who are dangerous, too, in their own way. But far more dangerous are
480
+ the others, who began when you were children, and took possession of
481
+ your minds with their falsehoods, telling of one Socrates, a wise man,
482
+ who speculated about the heaven above, and searched into the earth
483
+ beneath, and made the worse appear the better cause. The disseminators
484
+ of this tale are the accusers whom I dread; for their hearers are apt
485
+ to fancy that such enquirers do not believe in the existence of the
486
+ gods. And they are many, and their charges against me are of ancient
487
+ date, and they were made by them in the days when you were more
488
+ impressible than you are now--in childhood, or it may have been in
489
+ youth--and the cause when heard went by default, for there was none to
490
+ answer. And hardest of all, I do not know and cannot tell the names of
491
+ my accusers; unless in the chance case of a Comic poet. All who from
492
+ envy and malice have persuaded you--some of them having first convinced
493
+ themselves--all this class of men are most difficult to deal with; for I
494
+ cannot have them up here, and cross-examine them, and therefore I must
495
+ simply fight with shadows in my own defence, and argue when there is no
496
+ one who answers. I will ask you then to assume with me, as I was
497
+ saying, that my opponents are of two kinds; one recent, the other
498
+ ancient: and I hope that you will see the propriety of my answering the
499
+ latter first, for these accusations you heard long before the others,
500
+ and much oftener.
501
+
502
+ Well, then, I must make my defence, and endeavour to clear away in a
503
+ short time, a slander which has lasted a long time. May I succeed, if
504
+ to succeed be for my good and yours, or likely to avail me in my cause!
505
+ The task is not an easy one; I quite understand the nature of it. And
506
+ so leaving the event with God, in obedience to the law I will now make
507
+ my defence.
508
+
509
+ I will begin at the beginning, and ask what is the accusation which has
510
+ given rise to the slander of me, and in fact has encouraged Meletus to
511
+ proof this charge against me. Well, what do the slanderers say? They
512
+ shall be my prosecutors, and I will sum up their words in an affidavit:
513
+ "Socrates is an evil-doer, and a curious person, who searches into
514
+ things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the
515
+ better cause; and he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to others." Such
516
+ is the nature of the accusation: it is just what you have yourselves
517
+ seen in the comedy of Aristophanes (Aristoph., Clouds.), who has
518
+ introduced a man whom he calls Socrates, going about and saying that he
519
+ walks in air, and talking a deal of nonsense concerning matters of
520
+ which I do not pretend to know either much or little--not that I mean to
521
+ speak disparagingly of any one who is a student of natural philosophy.
522
+ I should be very sorry if Meletus could bring so grave a charge against
523
+ me. But the simple truth is, O Athenians, that I have nothing to do
524
+ with physical speculations. Very many of those here present are
525
+ witnesses to the truth of this, and to them I appeal. Speak then, you
526
+ who have heard me, and tell your neighbours whether any of you have
527
+ ever known me hold forth in few words or in many upon such
528
+ matters...You hear their answer. And from what they say of this part of
529
+ the charge you will be able to judge of the truth of the rest.
530
+
531
+ As little foundation is there for the report that I am a teacher, and
532
+ take money; this accusation has no more truth in it than the other.
533
+ Although, if a man were really able to instruct mankind, to receive
534
+ money for giving instruction would, in my opinion, be an honour to him.
535
+ There is Gorgias of Leontium, and Prodicus of Ceos, and Hippias of
536
+ Elis, who go the round of the cities, and are able to persuade the
537
+ young men to leave their own citizens by whom they might be taught for
538
+ nothing, and come to them whom they not only pay, but are thankful if
539
+ they may be allowed to pay them. There is at this time a Parian
540
+ philosopher residing in Athens, of whom I have heard; and I came to
541
+ hear of him in this way:--I came across a man who has spent a world of
542
+ money on the Sophists, Callias, the son of Hipponicus, and knowing that
543
+ he had sons, I asked him: "Callias," I said, "if your two sons were
544
+ foals or calves, there would be no difficulty in finding some one to
545
+ put over them; we should hire a trainer of horses, or a farmer
546
+ probably, who would improve and perfect them in their own proper virtue
547
+ and excellence; but as they are human beings, whom are you thinking of
548
+ placing over them? Is there any one who understands human and political
549
+ virtue? You must have thought about the matter, for you have sons; is
550
+ there any one?" "There is," he said. "Who is he?" said I; "and of what
551
+ country? and what does he charge?" "Evenus the Parian," he replied; "he
552
+ is the man, and his charge is five minæ." Happy is Evenus, I said to
553
+ myself, if he really has this wisdom, and teaches at such a moderate
554
+ charge. Had I the same, I should have been very proud and conceited;
555
+ but the truth is that I have no knowledge of the kind.
556
+
557
+ I dare say, Athenians, that some one among you will reply, "Yes,
558
+ Socrates, but what is the origin of these accusations which are brought
559
+ against you; there must have been something strange which you have been
560
+ doing? All these rumours and this talk about you would never have
561
+ arisen if you had been like other men: tell us, then, what is the cause
562
+ of them, for we should be sorry to judge hastily of you." Now I regard
563
+ this as a fair challenge, and I will endeavour to explain to you the
564
+ reason why I am called wise and have such an evil fame. Please to
565
+ attend then. And although some of you may think that I am joking, I
566
+ declare that I will tell you the entire truth. Men of Athens, this
567
+ reputation of mine has come of a certain sort of wisdom which I
568
+ possess. If you ask me what kind of wisdom, I reply, wisdom such as may
569
+ perhaps be attained by man, for to that extent I am inclined to believe
570
+ that I am wise; whereas the persons of whom I was speaking have a
571
+ superhuman wisdom which I may fail to describe, because I have it not
572
+ myself; and he who says that I have, speaks falsely, and is taking away
573
+ my character. And here, O men of Athens, I must beg you not to
574
+ interrupt me, even if I seem to say something extravagant. For the word
575
+ which I will speak is not mine. I will refer you to a witness who is
576
+ worthy of credit; that witness shall be the God of Delphi--he will tell
577
+ you about my wisdom, if I have any, and of what sort it is. You must
578
+ have known Chaerephon; he was early a friend of mine, and also a friend
579
+ of yours, for he shared in the recent exile of the people, and returned
580
+ with you. Well, Chaerephon, as you know, was very impetuous in all his
581
+ doings, and he went to Delphi and boldly asked the oracle to tell him
582
+ whether--as I was saying, I must beg you not to interrupt--he asked the
583
+ oracle to tell him whether anyone was wiser than I was, and the Pythian
584
+ prophetess answered, that there was no man wiser. Chaerephon is dead
585
+ himself; but his brother, who is in court, will confirm the truth of
586
+ what I am saying.
587
+
588
+ Why do I mention this? Because I am going to explain to you why I have
589
+ such an evil name. When I heard the answer, I said to myself, What can
590
+ the god mean? and what is the interpretation of his riddle? for I know
591
+ that I have no wisdom, small or great. What then can he mean when he
592
+ says that I am the wisest of men? And yet he is a god, and cannot lie;
593
+ that would be against his nature. After long consideration, I thought
594
+ of a method of trying the question. I reflected that if I could only
595
+ find a man wiser than myself, then I might go to the god with a
596
+ refutation in my hand. I should say to him, "Here is a man who is wiser
597
+ than I am; but you said that I was the wisest." Accordingly I went to
598
+ one who had the reputation of wisdom, and observed him--his name I need
599
+ not mention; he was a politician whom I selected for examination--and
600
+ the result was as follows: When I began to talk with him, I could not
601
+ help thinking that he was not really wise, although he was thought wise
602
+ by many, and still wiser by himself; and thereupon I tried to explain
603
+ to him that he thought himself wise, but was not really wise; and the
604
+ consequence was that he hated me, and his enmity was shared by several
605
+ who were present and heard me. So I left him, saying to myself, as I
606
+ went away: Well, although I do not suppose that either of us knows
607
+ anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is,--for he
608
+ knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that
609
+ I know. In this latter particular, then, I seem to have slightly the
610
+ advantage of him. Then I went to another who had still higher
611
+ pretensions to wisdom, and my conclusion was exactly the same.
612
+ Whereupon I made another enemy of him, and of many others besides him.
613
+
614
+ Then I went to one man after another, being not unconscious of the
615
+ enmity which I provoked, and I lamented and feared this: but necessity
616
+ was laid upon me,--the word of God, I thought, ought to be considered
617
+ first. And I said to myself, Go I must to all who appear to know, and
618
+ find out the meaning of the oracle. And I swear to you, Athenians, by
619
+ the dog I swear!--for I must tell you the truth--the result of my mission
620
+ was just this: I found that the men most in repute were all but the
621
+ most foolish; and that others less esteemed were really wiser and
622
+ better. I will tell you the tale of my wanderings and of the
623
+ "Herculean" labours, as I may call them, which I endured only to find
624
+ at last the oracle irrefutable. After the politicians, I went to the
625
+ poets; tragic, dithyrambic, and all sorts. And there, I said to myself,
626
+ you will be instantly detected; now you will find out that you are more
627
+ ignorant than they are. Accordingly, I took them some of the most
628
+ elaborate passages in their own writings, and asked what was the
629
+ meaning of them--thinking that they would teach me something. Will you
630
+ believe me? I am almost ashamed to confess the truth, but I must say
631
+ that there is hardly a person present who would not have talked better
632
+ about their poetry than they did themselves. Then I knew that not by
633
+ wisdom do poets write poetry, but by a sort of genius and inspiration;
634
+ they are like diviners or soothsayers who also say many fine things,
635
+ but do not understand the meaning of them. The poets appeared to me to
636
+ be much in the same case; and I further observed that upon the strength
637
+ of their poetry they believed themselves to be the wisest of men in
638
+ other things in which they were not wise. So I departed, conceiving
639
+ myself to be superior to them for the same reason that I was superior
640
+ to the politicians.
641
+
642
+ At last I went to the artisans. I was conscious that I knew nothing at
643
+ all, as I may say, and I was sure that they knew many fine things; and
644
+ here I was not mistaken, for they did know many things of which I was
645
+ ignorant, and in this they certainly were wiser than I was. But I
646
+ observed that even the good artisans fell into the same error as the
647
+ poets;--because they were good workmen they thought that they also knew
648
+ all sorts of high matters, and this defect in them overshadowed their
649
+ wisdom; and therefore I asked myself on behalf of the oracle, whether I
650
+ would like to be as I was, neither having their knowledge nor their
651
+ ignorance, or like them in both; and I made answer to myself and to the
652
+ oracle that I was better off as I was.
653
+
654
+ This inquisition has led to my having many enemies of the worst and
655
+ most dangerous kind, and has given occasion also to many calumnies. And
656
+ I am called wise, for my hearers always imagine that I myself possess
657
+ the wisdom which I find wanting in others: but the truth is, O men of
658
+ Athens, that God only is wise; and by his answer he intends to show
659
+ that the wisdom of men is worth little or nothing; he is not speaking
660
+ of Socrates, he is only using my name by way of illustration, as if he
661
+ said, He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his
662
+ wisdom is in truth worth nothing. And so I go about the world, obedient
663
+ to the god, and search and make enquiry into the wisdom of any one,
664
+ whether citizen or stranger, who appears to be wise; and if he is not
665
+ wise, then in vindication of the oracle I show him that he is not wise;
666
+ and my occupation quite absorbs me, and I have no time to give either
667
+ to any public matter of interest or to any concern of my own, but I am
668
+ in utter poverty by reason of my devotion to the god.
669
+
670
+ There is another thing:--young men of the richer classes, who have not
671
+ much to do, come about me of their own accord; they like to hear the
672
+ pretenders examined, and they often imitate me, and proceed to examine
673
+ others; there are plenty of persons, as they quickly discover, who
674
+ think that they know something, but really know little or nothing; and
675
+ then those who are examined by them instead of being angry with
676
+ themselves are angry with me: This confounded Socrates, they say; this
677
+ villainous misleader of youth!--and then if somebody asks them, Why,
678
+ what evil does he practise or teach? they do not know, and cannot tell;
679
+ but in order that they may not appear to be at a loss, they repeat the
680
+ ready-made charges which are used against all philosophers about
681
+ teaching things up in the clouds and under the earth, and having no
682
+ gods, and making the worse appear the better cause; for they do not
683
+ like to confess that their pretence of knowledge has been
684
+ detected--which is the truth; and as they are numerous and ambitious and
685
+ energetic, and are drawn up in battle array and have persuasive
686
+ tongues, they have filled your ears with their loud and inveterate
687
+ calumnies. And this is the reason why my three accusers, Meletus and
688
+ Anytus and Lycon, have set upon me; Meletus, who has a quarrel with me
689
+ on behalf of the poets; Anytus, on behalf of the craftsmen and
690
+ politicians; Lycon, on behalf of the rhetoricians: and as I said at the
691
+ beginning, I cannot expect to get rid of such a mass of calumny all in
692
+ a moment. And this, O men of Athens, is the truth and the whole truth;
693
+ I have concealed nothing, I have dissembled nothing. And yet, I know
694
+ that my plainness of speech makes them hate me, and what is their
695
+ hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth?--Hence has arisen the
696
+ prejudice against me; and this is the reason of it, as you will find
697
+ out either in this or in any future enquiry.
698
+
699
+ I have said enough in my defence against the first class of my
700
+ accusers; I turn to the second class. They are headed by Meletus, that
701
+ good man and true lover of his country, as he calls himself. Against
702
+ these, too, I must try to make a defence:--Let their affidavit be read:
703
+ it contains something of this kind: It says that Socrates is a doer of
704
+ evil, who corrupts the youth; and who does not believe in the gods of
705
+ the state, but has other new divinities of his own. Such is the charge;
706
+ and now let us examine the particular counts. He says that I am a doer
707
+ of evil, and corrupt the youth; but I say, O men of Athens, that
708
+ Meletus is a doer of evil, in that he pretends to be in earnest when he
709
+ is only in jest, and is so eager to bring men to trial from a pretended
710
+ zeal and interest about matters in which he really never had the
711
+ smallest interest. And the truth of this I will endeavour to prove to
712
+ you.
713
+
714
+ Come hither, Meletus, and let me ask a question of you. You think a
715
+ great deal about the improvement of youth?
716
+
717
+ Yes, I do.
718
+
719
+ Tell the judges, then, who is their improver; for you must know, as you
720
+ have taken the pains to discover their corrupter, and are citing and
721
+ accusing me before them. Speak, then, and tell the judges who their
722
+ improver is.--Observe, Meletus, that you are silent, and have nothing to
723
+ say. But is not this rather disgraceful, and a very considerable proof
724
+ of what I was saying, that you have no interest in the matter? Speak
725
+ up, friend, and tell us who their improver is.
726
+
727
+ The laws.
728
+
729
+ But that, my good sir, is not my meaning. I want to know who the person
730
+ is, who, in the first place, knows the laws.
731
+
732
+ The judges, Socrates, who are present in court.
733
+
734
+ What, do you mean to say, Meletus, that they are able to instruct and
735
+ improve youth?
736
+
737
+ Certainly they are.
738
+
739
+ What, all of them, or some only and not others?
740
+
741
+ All of them.
742
+
743
+ By the goddess Here, that is good news! There are plenty of improvers,
744
+ then. And what do you say of the audience,--do they improve them?
745
+
746
+ Yes, they do.
747
+
748
+ And the senators?
749
+
750
+ Yes, the senators improve them.
751
+
752
+ But perhaps the members of the assembly corrupt them?--or do they too
753
+ improve them?
754
+
755
+ They improve them.
756
+
757
+ Then every Athenian improves and elevates them; all with the exception
758
+ of myself; and I alone am their corrupter? Is that what you affirm?
759
+
760
+ That is what I stoutly affirm.
761
+
762
+ I am very unfortunate if you are right. But suppose I ask you a
763
+ question: How about horses? Does one man do them harm and all the world
764
+ good? Is not the exact opposite the truth? One man is able to do them
765
+ good, or at least not many;--the trainer of horses, that is to say, does
766
+ them good, and others who have to do with them rather injure them? Is
767
+ not that true, Meletus, of horses, or of any other animals? Most
768
+ assuredly it is; whether you and Anytus say yes or no. Happy indeed
769
+ would be the condition of youth if they had one corrupter only, and all
770
+ the rest of the world were their improvers. But you, Meletus, have
771
+ sufficiently shown that you never had a thought about the young: your
772
+ carelessness is seen in your not caring about the very things which you
773
+ bring against me.
774
+
775
+ And now, Meletus, I will ask you another question--by Zeus I will: Which
776
+ is better, to live among bad citizens, or among good ones? Answer,
777
+ friend, I say; the question is one which may be easily answered. Do not
778
+ the good do their neighbours good, and the bad do them evil?
779
+
780
+ Certainly.
781
+
782
+ And is there anyone who would rather be injured than benefited by those
783
+ who live with him? Answer, my good friend, the law requires you to
784
+ answer--does any one like to be injured?
785
+
786
+ Certainly not.
787
+
788
+ And when you accuse me of corrupting and deteriorating the youth, do
789
+ you allege that I corrupt them intentionally or unintentionally?
790
+
791
+ Intentionally, I say.
792
+
793
+ But you have just admitted that the good do their neighbours good, and
794
+ the evil do them evil. Now, is that a truth which your superior wisdom
795
+ has recognized thus early in life, and am I, at my age, in such
796
+ darkness and ignorance as not to know that if a man with whom I have to
797
+ live is corrupted by me, I am very likely to be harmed by him; and yet
798
+ I corrupt him, and intentionally, too--so you say, although neither I
799
+ nor any other human being is ever likely to be convinced by you. But
800
+ either I do not corrupt them, or I corrupt them unintentionally; and on
801
+ either view of the case you lie. If my offence is unintentional, the
802
+ law has no cognizance of unintentional offences: you ought to have
803
+ taken me privately, and warned and admonished me; for if I had been
804
+ better advised, I should have left off doing what I only did
805
+ unintentionally--no doubt I should; but you would have nothing to say to
806
+ me and refused to teach me. And now you bring me up in this court,
807
+ which is a place not of instruction, but of punishment.
808
+
809
+ It will be very clear to you, Athenians, as I was saying, that Meletus
810
+ has no care at all, great or small, about the matter. But still I
811
+ should like to know, Meletus, in what I am affirmed to corrupt the
812
+ young. I suppose you mean, as I infer from your indictment, that I
813
+ teach them not to acknowledge the gods which the state acknowledges,
814
+ but some other new divinities or spiritual agencies in their stead.
815
+ These are the lessons by which I corrupt the youth, as you say.
816
+
817
+ Yes, that I say emphatically.
818
+
819
+ Then, by the gods, Meletus, of whom we are speaking, tell me and the
820
+ court, in somewhat plainer terms, what you mean! for I do not as yet
821
+ understand whether you affirm that I teach other men to acknowledge
822
+ some gods, and therefore that I do believe in gods, and am not an
823
+ entire atheist--this you do not lay to my charge,--but only you say that
824
+ they are not the same gods which the city recognizes--the charge is that
825
+ they are different gods. Or, do you mean that I am an atheist simply,
826
+ and a teacher of atheism?
827
+
828
+ I mean the latter--that you are a complete atheist.
829
+
830
+ What an extraordinary statement! Why do you think so, Meletus? Do you
831
+ mean that I do not believe in the godhead of the sun or moon, like
832
+ other men?
833
+
834
+ I assure you, judges, that he does not: for he says that the sun is
835
+ stone, and the moon earth.
836
+
837
+ Friend Meletus, you think that you are accusing Anaxagoras: and you
838
+ have but a bad opinion of the judges, if you fancy them illiterate to
839
+ such a degree as not to know that these doctrines are found in the
840
+ books of Anaxagoras the Clazomenian, which are full of them. And so,
841
+ forsooth, the youth are said to be taught them by Socrates, when there
842
+ are not unfrequently exhibitions of them at the theatre (Probably in
843
+ allusion to Aristophanes who caricatured, and to Euripides who borrowed
844
+ the notions of Anaxagoras, as well as to other dramatic poets.) (price
845
+ of admission one drachma at the most); and they might pay their money,
846
+ and laugh at Socrates if he pretends to father these extraordinary
847
+ views. And so, Meletus, you really think that I do not believe in any
848
+ god?
849
+
850
+ I swear by Zeus that you believe absolutely in none at all.
851
+
852
+ Nobody will believe you, Meletus, and I am pretty sure that you do not
853
+ believe yourself. I cannot help thinking, men of Athens, that Meletus
854
+ is reckless and impudent, and that he has written this indictment in a
855
+ spirit of mere wantonness and youthful bravado. Has he not compounded a
856
+ riddle, thinking to try me? He said to himself:--I shall see whether the
857
+ wise Socrates will discover my facetious contradiction, or whether I
858
+ shall be able to deceive him and the rest of them. For he certainly
859
+ does appear to me to contradict himself in the indictment as much as if
860
+ he said that Socrates is guilty of not believing in the gods, and yet
861
+ of believing in them--but this is not like a person who is in earnest.
862
+
863
+ I should like you, O men of Athens, to join me in examining what I
864
+ conceive to be his inconsistency; and do you, Meletus, answer. And I
865
+ must remind the audience of my request that they would not make a
866
+ disturbance if I speak in my accustomed manner:
867
+
868
+ Did ever man, Meletus, believe in the existence of human things, and
869
+ not of human beings?...I wish, men of Athens, that he would answer, and
870
+ not be always trying to get up an interruption. Did ever any man
871
+ believe in horsemanship, and not in horses? or in flute-playing, and
872
+ not in flute-players? No, my friend; I will answer to you and to the
873
+ court, as you refuse to answer for yourself. There is no man who ever
874
+ did. But now please to answer the next question: Can a man believe in
875
+ spiritual and divine agencies, and not in spirits or demigods?
876
+
877
+ He cannot.
878
+
879
+ How lucky I am to have extracted that answer, by the assistance of the
880
+ court! But then you swear in the indictment that I teach and believe in
881
+ divine or spiritual agencies (new or old, no matter for that); at any
882
+ rate, I believe in spiritual agencies,--so you say and swear in the
883
+ affidavit; and yet if I believe in divine beings, how can I help
884
+ believing in spirits or demigods;--must I not? To be sure I must; and
885
+ therefore I may assume that your silence gives consent. Now what are
886
+ spirits or demigods? Are they not either gods or the sons of gods?
887
+
888
+ Certainly they are.
889
+
890
+ But this is what I call the facetious riddle invented by you: the
891
+ demigods or spirits are gods, and you say first that I do not believe
892
+ in gods, and then again that I do believe in gods; that is, if I
893
+ believe in demigods. For if the demigods are the illegitimate sons of
894
+ gods, whether by the nymphs or by any other mothers, of whom they are
895
+ said to be the sons--what human being will ever believe that there are
896
+ no gods if they are the sons of gods? You might as well affirm the
897
+ existence of mules, and deny that of horses and asses. Such nonsense,
898
+ Meletus, could only have been intended by you to make trial of me. You
899
+ have put this into the indictment because you had nothing real of which
900
+ to accuse me. But no one who has a particle of understanding will ever
901
+ be convinced by you that the same men can believe in divine and
902
+ superhuman things, and yet not believe that there are gods and demigods
903
+ and heroes.
904
+
905
+ I have said enough in answer to the charge of Meletus: any elaborate
906
+ defence is unnecessary, but I know only too well how many are the
907
+ enmities which I have incurred, and this is what will be my destruction
908
+ if I am destroyed;--not Meletus, nor yet Anytus, but the envy and
909
+ detraction of the world, which has been the death of many good men, and
910
+ will probably be the death of many more; there is no danger of my being
911
+ the last of them.
912
+
913
+ Some one will say: And are you not ashamed, Socrates, of a course of
914
+ life which is likely to bring you to an untimely end? To him I may
915
+ fairly answer: There you are mistaken: a man who is good for anything
916
+ ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to
917
+ consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong--acting
918
+ the part of a good man or of a bad. Whereas, upon your view, the heroes
919
+ who fell at Troy were not good for much, and the son of Thetis above
920
+ all, who altogether despised danger in comparison with disgrace; and
921
+ when he was so eager to slay Hector, his goddess mother said to him,
922
+ that if he avenged his companion Patroclus, and slew Hector, he would
923
+ die himself--"Fate," she said, in these or the like words, "waits for
924
+ you next after Hector;" he, receiving this warning, utterly despised
925
+ danger and death, and instead of fearing them, feared rather to live in
926
+ dishonour, and not to avenge his friend. "Let me die forthwith," he
927
+ replies, "and be avenged of my enemy, rather than abide here by the
928
+ beaked ships, a laughing-stock and a burden of the earth." Had Achilles
929
+ any thought of death and danger? For wherever a man's place is, whether
930
+ the place which he has chosen or that in which he has been placed by a
931
+ commander, there he ought to remain in the hour of danger; he should
932
+ not think of death or of anything but of disgrace. And this, O men of
933
+ Athens, is a true saying.
934
+
935
+ Strange, indeed, would be my conduct, O men of Athens, if I who, when I
936
+ was ordered by the generals whom you chose to command me at Potidaea
937
+ and Amphipolis and Delium, remained where they placed me, like any
938
+ other man, facing death--if now, when, as I conceive and imagine, God
939
+ orders me to fulfil the philosopher's mission of searching into myself
940
+ and other men, I were to desert my post through fear of death, or any
941
+ other fear; that would indeed be strange, and I might justly be
942
+ arraigned in court for denying the existence of the gods, if I
943
+ disobeyed the oracle because I was afraid of death, fancying that I was
944
+ wise when I was not wise. For the fear of death is indeed the pretence
945
+ of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being a pretence of knowing the
946
+ unknown; and no one knows whether death, which men in their fear
947
+ apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good. Is not
948
+ this ignorance of a disgraceful sort, the ignorance which is the
949
+ conceit that a man knows what he does not know? And in this respect
950
+ only I believe myself to differ from men in general, and may perhaps
951
+ claim to be wiser than they are:--that whereas I know but little of the
952
+ world below, I do not suppose that I know: but I do know that injustice
953
+ and disobedience to a better, whether God or man, is evil and
954
+ dishonourable, and I will never fear or avoid a possible good rather
955
+ than a certain evil. And therefore if you let me go now, and are not
956
+ convinced by Anytus, who said that since I had been prosecuted I must
957
+ be put to death; (or if not that I ought never to have been prosecuted
958
+ at all); and that if I escape now, your sons will all be utterly ruined
959
+ by listening to my words--if you say to me, Socrates, this time we will
960
+ not mind Anytus, and you shall be let off, but upon one condition, that
961
+ you are not to enquire and speculate in this way any more, and that if
962
+ you are caught doing so again you shall die;--if this was the condition
963
+ on which you let me go, I should reply: Men of Athens, I honour and
964
+ love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life
965
+ and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of
966
+ philosophy, exhorting any one whom I meet and saying to him after my
967
+ manner: You, my friend,--a citizen of the great and mighty and wise city
968
+ of Athens,--are you not ashamed of heaping up the greatest amount of
969
+ money and honour and reputation, and caring so little about wisdom and
970
+ truth and the greatest improvement of the soul, which you never regard
971
+ or heed at all? And if the person with whom I am arguing, says: Yes,
972
+ but I do care; then I do not leave him or let him go at once; but I
973
+ proceed to interrogate and examine and cross-examine him, and if I
974
+ think that he has no virtue in him, but only says that he has, I
975
+ reproach him with undervaluing the greater, and overvaluing the less.
976
+ And I shall repeat the same words to every one whom I meet, young and
977
+ old, citizen and alien, but especially to the citizens, inasmuch as
978
+ they are my brethren. For know that this is the command of God; and I
979
+ believe that no greater good has ever happened in the state than my
980
+ service to the God. For I do nothing but go about persuading you all,
981
+ old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your
982
+ properties, but first and chiefly to care about the greatest
983
+ improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money,
984
+ but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as
985
+ well as private. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which
986
+ corrupts the youth, I am a mischievous person. But if any one says that
987
+ this is not my teaching, he is speaking an untruth. Wherefore, O men of
988
+ Athens, I say to you, do as Anytus bids or not as Anytus bids, and
989
+ either acquit me or not; but whichever you do, understand that I shall
990
+ never alter my ways, not even if I have to die many times.
991
+
992
+ Men of Athens, do not interrupt, but hear me; there was an
993
+ understanding between us that you should hear me to the end: I have
994
+ something more to say, at which you may be inclined to cry out; but I
995
+ believe that to hear me will be good for you, and therefore I beg that
996
+ you will not cry out. I would have you know, that if you kill such an
997
+ one as I am, you will injure yourselves more than you will injure me.
998
+ Nothing will injure me, not Meletus nor yet Anytus--they cannot, for a
999
+ bad man is not permitted to injure a better than himself. I do not deny
1000
+ that Anytus may, perhaps, kill him, or drive him into exile, or deprive
1001
+ him of civil rights; and he may imagine, and others may imagine, that
1002
+ he is inflicting a great injury upon him: but there I do not agree. For
1003
+ the evil of doing as he is doing--the evil of unjustly taking away the
1004
+ life of another--is greater far.
1005
+
1006
+ And now, Athenians, I am not going to argue for my own sake, as you may
1007
+ think, but for yours, that you may not sin against the God by
1008
+ condemning me, who am his gift to you. For if you kill me you will not
1009
+ easily find a successor to me, who, if I may use such a ludicrous
1010
+ figure of speech, am a sort of gadfly, given to the state by God; and
1011
+ the state is a great and noble steed who is tardy in his motions owing
1012
+ to his very size, and requires to be stirred into life. I am that
1013
+ gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long and in all
1014
+ places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and
1015
+ reproaching you. You will not easily find another like me, and
1016
+ therefore I would advise you to spare me. I dare say that you may feel
1017
+ out of temper (like a person who is suddenly awakened from sleep), and
1018
+ you think that you might easily strike me dead as Anytus advises, and
1019
+ then you would sleep on for the remainder of your lives, unless God in
1020
+ his care of you sent you another gadfly. When I say that I am given to
1021
+ you by God, the proof of my mission is this:--if I had been like other
1022
+ men, I should not have neglected all my own concerns or patiently seen
1023
+ the neglect of them during all these years, and have been doing yours,
1024
+ coming to you individually like a father or elder brother, exhorting
1025
+ you to regard virtue; such conduct, I say, would be unlike human
1026
+ nature. If I had gained anything, or if my exhortations had been paid,
1027
+ there would have been some sense in my doing so; but now, as you will
1028
+ perceive, not even the impudence of my accusers dares to say that I
1029
+ have ever exacted or sought pay of any one; of that they have no
1030
+ witness. And I have a sufficient witness to the truth of what I say--my
1031
+ poverty.
1032
+
1033
+ Some one may wonder why I go about in private giving advice and busying
1034
+ myself with the concerns of others, but do not venture to come forward
1035
+ in public and advise the state. I will tell you why. You have heard me
1036
+ speak at sundry times and in divers places of an oracle or sign which
1037
+ comes to me, and is the divinity which Meletus ridicules in the
1038
+ indictment. This sign, which is a kind of voice, first began to come to
1039
+ me when I was a child; it always forbids but never commands me to do
1040
+ anything which I am going to do. This is what deters me from being a
1041
+ politician. And rightly, as I think. For I am certain, O men of Athens,
1042
+ that if I had engaged in politics, I should have perished long ago, and
1043
+ done no good either to you or to myself. And do not be offended at my
1044
+ telling you the truth: for the truth is, that no man who goes to war
1045
+ with you or any other multitude, honestly striving against the many
1046
+ lawless and unrighteous deeds which are done in a state, will save his
1047
+ life; he who will fight for the right, if he would live even for a
1048
+ brief space, must have a private station and not a public one.
1049
+
1050
+ I can give you convincing evidence of what I say, not words only, but
1051
+ what you value far more--actions. Let me relate to you a passage of my
1052
+ own life which will prove to you that I should never have yielded to
1053
+ injustice from any fear of death, and that "as I should have refused to
1054
+ yield" I must have died at once. I will tell you a tale of the courts,
1055
+ not very interesting perhaps, but nevertheless true. The only office of
1056
+ state which I ever held, O men of Athens, was that of senator: the
1057
+ tribe Antiochis, which is my tribe, had the presidency at the trial of
1058
+ the generals who had not taken up the bodies of the slain after the
1059
+ battle of Arginusae; and you proposed to try them in a body, contrary
1060
+ to law, as you all thought afterwards; but at the time I was the only
1061
+ one of the Prytanes who was opposed to the illegality, and I gave my
1062
+ vote against you; and when the orators threatened to impeach and arrest
1063
+ me, and you called and shouted, I made up my mind that I would run the
1064
+ risk, having law and justice with me, rather than take part in your
1065
+ injustice because I feared imprisonment and death. This happened in the
1066
+ days of the democracy. But when the oligarchy of the Thirty was in
1067
+ power, they sent for me and four others into the rotunda, and bade us
1068
+ bring Leon the Salaminian from Salamis, as they wanted to put him to
1069
+ death. This was a specimen of the sort of commands which they were
1070
+ always giving with the view of implicating as many as possible in their
1071
+ crimes; and then I showed, not in word only but in deed, that, if I may
1072
+ be allowed to use such an expression, I cared not a straw for death,
1073
+ and that my great and only care was lest I should do an unrighteous or
1074
+ unholy thing. For the strong arm of that oppressive power did not
1075
+ frighten me into doing wrong; and when we came out of the rotunda the
1076
+ other four went to Salamis and fetched Leon, but I went quietly home.
1077
+ For which I might have lost my life, had not the power of the Thirty
1078
+ shortly afterwards come to an end. And many will witness to my words.
1079
+
1080
+ Now do you really imagine that I could have survived all these years,
1081
+ if I had led a public life, supposing that like a good man I had always
1082
+ maintained the right and had made justice, as I ought, the first thing?
1083
+ No indeed, men of Athens, neither I nor any other man. But I have been
1084
+ always the same in all my actions, public as well as private, and never
1085
+ have I yielded any base compliance to those who are slanderously termed
1086
+ my disciples, or to any other. Not that I have any regular disciples.
1087
+ But if any one likes to come and hear me while I am pursuing my
1088
+ mission, whether he be young or old, he is not excluded. Nor do I
1089
+ converse only with those who pay; but any one, whether he be rich or
1090
+ poor, may ask and answer me and listen to my words; and whether he
1091
+ turns out to be a bad man or a good one, neither result can be justly
1092
+ imputed to me; for I never taught or professed to teach him anything.
1093
+ And if any one says that he has ever learned or heard anything from me
1094
+ in private which all the world has not heard, let me tell you that he
1095
+ is lying.
1096
+
1097
+ But I shall be asked, Why do people delight in continually conversing
1098
+ with you? I have told you already, Athenians, the whole truth about
1099
+ this matter: they like to hear the cross-examination of the pretenders
1100
+ to wisdom; there is amusement in it. Now this duty of cross-examining
1101
+ other men has been imposed upon me by God; and has been signified to me
1102
+ by oracles, visions, and in every way in which the will of divine power
1103
+ was ever intimated to any one. This is true, O Athenians, or, if not
1104
+ true, would be soon refuted. If I am or have been corrupting the youth,
1105
+ those of them who are now grown up and have become sensible that I gave
1106
+ them bad advice in the days of their youth should come forward as
1107
+ accusers, and take their revenge; or if they do not like to come
1108
+ themselves, some of their relatives, fathers, brothers, or other
1109
+ kinsmen, should say what evil their families have suffered at my hands.
1110
+ Now is their time. Many of them I see in the court. There is Crito, who
1111
+ is of the same age and of the same deme with myself, and there is
1112
+ Critobulus his son, whom I also see. Then again there is Lysanias of
1113
+ Sphettus, who is the father of Aeschines--he is present; and also there
1114
+ is Antiphon of Cephisus, who is the father of Epigenes; and there are
1115
+ the brothers of several who have associated with me. There is
1116
+ Nicostratus the son of Theosdotides, and the brother of Theodotus (now
1117
+ Theodotus himself is dead, and therefore he, at any rate, will not seek
1118
+ to stop him); and there is Paralus the son of Demodocus, who had a
1119
+ brother Theages; and Adeimantus the son of Ariston, whose brother Plato
1120
+ is present; and Aeantodorus, who is the brother of Apollodorus, whom I
1121
+ also see. I might mention a great many others, some of whom Meletus
1122
+ should have produced as witnesses in the course of his speech; and let
1123
+ him still produce them, if he has forgotten--I will make way for him.
1124
+ And let him say, if he has any testimony of the sort which he can
1125
+ produce. Nay, Athenians, the very opposite is the truth. For all these
1126
+ are ready to witness on behalf of the corrupter, of the injurer of
1127
+ their kindred, as Meletus and Anytus call me; not the corrupted youth
1128
+ only--there might have been a motive for that--but their uncorrupted
1129
+ elder relatives. Why should they too support me with their testimony?
1130
+ Why, indeed, except for the sake of truth and justice, and because they
1131
+ know that I am speaking the truth, and that Meletus is a liar.
1132
+
1133
+ Well, Athenians, this and the like of this is all the defence which I
1134
+ have to offer. Yet a word more. Perhaps there may be some one who is
1135
+ offended at me, when he calls to mind how he himself on a similar, or
1136
+ even a less serious occasion, prayed and entreated the judges with many
1137
+ tears, and how he produced his children in court, which was a moving
1138
+ spectacle, together with a host of relations and friends; whereas I,
1139
+ who am probably in danger of my life, will do none of these things. The
1140
+ contrast may occur to his mind, and he may be set against me, and vote
1141
+ in anger because he is displeased at me on this account. Now if there
1142
+ be such a person among you,--mind, I do not say that there is,--to him I
1143
+ may fairly reply: My friend, I am a man, and like other men, a creature
1144
+ of flesh and blood, and not "of wood or stone," as Homer says; and I
1145
+ have a family, yes, and sons, O Athenians, three in number, one almost
1146
+ a man, and two others who are still young; and yet I will not bring any
1147
+ of them hither in order to petition you for an acquittal. And why not?
1148
+ Not from any self-assertion or want of respect for you. Whether I am or
1149
+ am not afraid of death is another question, of which I will not now
1150
+ speak. But, having regard to public opinion, I feel that such conduct
1151
+ would be discreditable to myself, and to you, and to the whole state.
1152
+ One who has reached my years, and who has a name for wisdom, ought not
1153
+ to demean himself. Whether this opinion of me be deserved or not, at
1154
+ any rate the world has decided that Socrates is in some way superior to
1155
+ other men. And if those among you who are said to be superior in wisdom
1156
+ and courage, and any other virtue, demean themselves in this way, how
1157
+ shameful is their conduct! I have seen men of reputation, when they
1158
+ have been condemned, behaving in the strangest manner: they seemed to
1159
+ fancy that they were going to suffer something dreadful if they died,
1160
+ and that they could be immortal if you only allowed them to live; and I
1161
+ think that such are a dishonour to the state, and that any stranger
1162
+ coming in would have said of them that the most eminent men of Athens,
1163
+ to whom the Athenians themselves give honour and command, are no better
1164
+ than women. And I say that these things ought not to be done by those
1165
+ of us who have a reputation; and if they are done, you ought not to
1166
+ permit them; you ought rather to show that you are far more disposed to
1167
+ condemn the man who gets up a doleful scene and makes the city
1168
+ ridiculous, than him who holds his peace.
1169
+
1170
+ But, setting aside the question of public opinion, there seems to be
1171
+ something wrong in asking a favour of a judge, and thus procuring an
1172
+ acquittal, instead of informing and convincing him. For his duty is,
1173
+ not to make a present of justice, but to give judgment; and he has
1174
+ sworn that he will judge according to the laws, and not according to
1175
+ his own good pleasure; and we ought not to encourage you, nor should
1176
+ you allow yourselves to be encouraged, in this habit of perjury--there
1177
+ can be no piety in that. Do not then require me to do what I consider
1178
+ dishonourable and impious and wrong, especially now, when I am being
1179
+ tried for impiety on the indictment of Meletus. For if, O men of
1180
+ Athens, by force of persuasion and entreaty I could overpower your
1181
+ oaths, then I should be teaching you to believe that there are no gods,
1182
+ and in defending should simply convict myself of the charge of not
1183
+ believing in them. But that is not so--far otherwise. For I do believe
1184
+ that there are gods, and in a sense higher than that in which any of my
1185
+ accusers believe in them. And to you and to God I commit my cause, to
1186
+ be determined by you as is best for you and me.
1187
+
1188
+ There are many reasons why I am not grieved, O men of Athens, at the
1189
+ vote of condemnation. I expected it, and am only surprised that the
1190
+ votes are so nearly equal; for I had thought that the majority against
1191
+ me would have been far larger; but now, had thirty votes gone over to
1192
+ the other side, I should have been acquitted. And I may say, I think,
1193
+ that I have escaped Meletus. I may say more; for without the assistance
1194
+ of Anytus and Lycon, any one may see that he would not have had a fifth
1195
+ part of the votes, as the law requires, in which case he would have
1196
+ incurred a fine of a thousand drachmae.
1197
+
1198
+ And so he proposes death as the penalty. And what shall I propose on my
1199
+ part, O men of Athens? Clearly that which is my due. And what is my
1200
+ due? What return shall be made to the man who has never had the wit to
1201
+ be idle during his whole life; but has been careless of what the many
1202
+ care for--wealth, and family interests, and military offices, and
1203
+ speaking in the assembly, and magistracies, and plots, and parties.
1204
+ Reflecting that I was really too honest a man to be a politician and
1205
+ live, I did not go where I could do no good to you or to myself; but
1206
+ where I could do the greatest good privately to every one of you,
1207
+ thither I went, and sought to persuade every man among you that he must
1208
+ look to himself, and seek virtue and wisdom before he looks to his
1209
+ private interests, and look to the state before he looks to the
1210
+ interests of the state; and that this should be the order which he
1211
+ observes in all his actions. What shall be done to such an one?
1212
+ Doubtless some good thing, O men of Athens, if he has his reward; and
1213
+ the good should be of a kind suitable to him. What would be a reward
1214
+ suitable to a poor man who is your benefactor, and who desires leisure
1215
+ that he may instruct you? There can be no reward so fitting as
1216
+ maintenance in the Prytaneum, O men of Athens, a reward which he
1217
+ deserves far more than the citizen who has won the prize at Olympia in
1218
+ the horse or chariot race, whether the chariots were drawn by two
1219
+ horses or by many. For I am in want, and he has enough; and he only
1220
+ gives you the appearance of happiness, and I give you the reality. And
1221
+ if I am to estimate the penalty fairly, I should say that maintenance
1222
+ in the Prytaneum is the just return.
1223
+
1224
+ Perhaps you think that I am braving you in what I am saying now, as in
1225
+ what I said before about the tears and prayers. But this is not so. I
1226
+ speak rather because I am convinced that I never intentionally wronged
1227
+ any one, although I cannot convince you--the time has been too short; if
1228
+ there were a law at Athens, as there is in other cities, that a capital
1229
+ cause should not be decided in one day, then I believe that I should
1230
+ have convinced you. But I cannot in a moment refute great slanders;
1231
+ and, as I am convinced that I never wronged another, I will assuredly
1232
+ not wrong myself. I will not say of myself that I deserve any evil, or
1233
+ propose any penalty. Why should I? because I am afraid of the penalty
1234
+ of death which Meletus proposes? When I do not know whether death is a
1235
+ good or an evil, why should I propose a penalty which would certainly
1236
+ be an evil? Shall I say imprisonment? And why should I live in prison,
1237
+ and be the slave of the magistrates of the year--of the Eleven? Or shall
1238
+ the penalty be a fine, and imprisonment until the fine is paid? There
1239
+ is the same objection. I should have to lie in prison, for money I have
1240
+ none, and cannot pay. And if I say exile (and this may possibly be the
1241
+ penalty which you will affix), I must indeed be blinded by the love of
1242
+ life, if I am so irrational as to expect that when you, who are my own
1243
+ citizens, cannot endure my discourses and words, and have found them so
1244
+ grievous and odious that you will have no more of them, others are
1245
+ likely to endure me. No indeed, men of Athens, that is not very likely.
1246
+ And what a life should I lead, at my age, wandering from city to city,
1247
+ ever changing my place of exile, and always being driven out! For I am
1248
+ quite sure that wherever I go, there, as here, the young men will flock
1249
+ to me; and if I drive them away, their elders will drive me out at
1250
+ their request; and if I let them come, their fathers and friends will
1251
+ drive me out for their sakes.
1252
+
1253
+ Some one will say: Yes, Socrates, but cannot you hold your tongue, and
1254
+ then you may go into a foreign city, and no one will interfere with
1255
+ you? Now I have great difficulty in making you understand my answer to
1256
+ this. For if I tell you that to do as you say would be a disobedience
1257
+ to the God, and therefore that I cannot hold my tongue, you will not
1258
+ believe that I am serious; and if I say again that daily to discourse
1259
+ about virtue, and of those other things about which you hear me
1260
+ examining myself and others, is the greatest good of man, and that the
1261
+ unexamined life is not worth living, you are still less likely to
1262
+ believe me. Yet I say what is true, although a thing of which it is
1263
+ hard for me to persuade you. Also, I have never been accustomed to
1264
+ think that I deserve to suffer any harm. Had I money I might have
1265
+ estimated the offence at what I was able to pay, and not have been much
1266
+ the worse. But I have none, and therefore I must ask you to proportion
1267
+ the fine to my means. Well, perhaps I could afford a mina, and
1268
+ therefore I propose that penalty: Plato, Crito, Critobulus, and
1269
+ Apollodorus, my friends here, bid me say thirty minæ, and they will be
1270
+ the sureties. Let thirty minæ be the penalty; for which sum they will
1271
+ be ample security to you.
1272
+
1273
+ Not much time will be gained, O Athenians, in return for the evil name
1274
+ which you will get from the detractors of the city, who will say that
1275
+ you killed Socrates, a wise man; for they will call me wise, even
1276
+ although I am not wise, when they want to reproach you. If you had
1277
+ waited a little while, your desire would have been fulfilled in the
1278
+ course of nature. For I am far advanced in years, as you may perceive,
1279
+ and not far from death. I am speaking now not to all of you, but only
1280
+ to those who have condemned me to death. And I have another thing to
1281
+ say to them: you think that I was convicted because I had no words of
1282
+ the sort which would have procured my acquittal--I mean, if I had
1283
+ thought fit to leave nothing undone or unsaid. Not so; the deficiency
1284
+ which led to my conviction was not of words--certainly not. But I had
1285
+ not the boldness or impudence or inclination to address you as you
1286
+ would have liked me to do, weeping and wailing and lamenting, and
1287
+ saying and doing many things which you have been accustomed to hear
1288
+ from others, and which, as I maintain, are unworthy of me. I thought at
1289
+ the time that I ought not to do anything common or mean when in danger:
1290
+ nor do I now repent of the style of my defence; I would rather die
1291
+ having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live. For
1292
+ neither in war nor yet at law ought I or any man to use every way of
1293
+ escaping death. Often in battle there can be no doubt that if a man
1294
+ will throw away his arms, and fall on his knees before his pursuers, he
1295
+ may escape death; and in other dangers there are other ways of escaping
1296
+ death, if a man is willing to say and do anything. The difficulty, my
1297
+ friends, is not to avoid death, but to avoid unrighteousness; for that
1298
+ runs faster than death. I am old and move slowly, and the slower runner
1299
+ has overtaken me, and my accusers are keen and quick, and the faster
1300
+ runner, who is unrighteousness, has overtaken them. And now I depart
1301
+ hence condemned by you to suffer the penalty of death,--they too go
1302
+ their ways condemned by the truth to suffer the penalty of villainy and
1303
+ wrong; and I must abide by my award--let them abide by theirs. I suppose
1304
+ that these things may be regarded as fated,--and I think that they are
1305
+ well.
1306
+
1307
+ And now, O men who have condemned me, I would fain prophesy to you; for
1308
+ I am about to die, and in the hour of death men are gifted with
1309
+ prophetic power. And I prophesy to you who are my murderers, that
1310
+ immediately after my departure punishment far heavier than you have
1311
+ inflicted on me will surely await you. Me you have killed because you
1312
+ wanted to escape the accuser, and not to give an account of your lives.
1313
+ But that will not be as you suppose: far otherwise. For I say that
1314
+ there will be more accusers of you than there are now; accusers whom
1315
+ hitherto I have restrained: and as they are younger they will be more
1316
+ inconsiderate with you, and you will be more offended at them. If you
1317
+ think that by killing men you can prevent some one from censuring your
1318
+ evil lives, you are mistaken; that is not a way of escape which is
1319
+ either possible or honourable; the easiest and the noblest way is not
1320
+ to be disabling others, but to be improving yourselves. This is the
1321
+ prophecy which I utter before my departure to the judges who have
1322
+ condemned me.
1323
+
1324
+ Friends, who would have acquitted me, I would like also to talk with
1325
+ you about the thing which has come to pass, while the magistrates are
1326
+ busy, and before I go to the place at which I must die. Stay then a
1327
+ little, for we may as well talk with one another while there is time.
1328
+ You are my friends, and I should like to show you the meaning of this
1329
+ event which has happened to me. O my judges--for you I may truly call
1330
+ judges--I should like to tell you of a wonderful circumstance. Hitherto
1331
+ the divine faculty of which the internal oracle is the source has
1332
+ constantly been in the habit of opposing me even about trifles, if I
1333
+ was going to make a slip or error in any matter; and now as you see
1334
+ there has come upon me that which may be thought, and is generally
1335
+ believed to be, the last and worst evil. But the oracle made no sign of
1336
+ opposition, either when I was leaving my house in the morning, or when
1337
+ I was on my way to the court, or while I was speaking, at anything
1338
+ which I was going to say; and yet I have often been stopped in the
1339
+ middle of a speech, but now in nothing I either said or did touching
1340
+ the matter in hand has the oracle opposed me. What do I take to be the
1341
+ explanation of this silence? I will tell you. It is an intimation that
1342
+ what has happened to me is a good, and that those of us who think that
1343
+ death is an evil are in error. For the customary sign would surely have
1344
+ opposed me had I been going to evil and not to good.
1345
+
1346
+ Let us reflect in another way, and we shall see that there is great
1347
+ reason to hope that death is a good; for one of two things--either death
1348
+ is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say,
1349
+ there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another.
1350
+ Now if you suppose that there is no consciousness, but a sleep like the
1351
+ sleep of him who is undisturbed even by dreams, death will be an
1352
+ unspeakable gain. For if a person were to select the night in which his
1353
+ sleep was undisturbed even by dreams, and were to compare with this the
1354
+ other days and nights of his life, and then were to tell us how many
1355
+ days and nights he had passed in the course of his life better and more
1356
+ pleasantly than this one, I think that any man, I will not say a
1357
+ private man, but even the great king will not find many such days or
1358
+ nights, when compared with the others. Now if death be of such a
1359
+ nature, I say that to die is gain; for eternity is then only a single
1360
+ night. But if death is the journey to another place, and there, as men
1361
+ say, all the dead abide, what good, O my friends and judges, can be
1362
+ greater than this? If indeed when the pilgrim arrives in the world
1363
+ below, he is delivered from the professors of justice in this world,
1364
+ and finds the true judges who are said to give judgment there, Minos
1365
+ and Rhadamanthus and Aeacus and Triptolemus, and other sons of God who
1366
+ were righteous in their own life, that pilgrimage will be worth making.
1367
+ What would not a man give if he might converse with Orpheus and Musaeus
1368
+ and Hesiod and Homer? Nay, if this be true, let me die again and again.
1369
+ I myself, too, shall have a wonderful interest in there meeting and
1370
+ conversing with Palamedes, and Ajax the son of Telamon, and any other
1371
+ ancient hero who has suffered death through an unjust judgment; and
1372
+ there will be no small pleasure, as I think, in comparing my own
1373
+ sufferings with theirs. Above all, I shall then be able to continue my
1374
+ search into true and false knowledge; as in this world, so also in the
1375
+ next; and I shall find out who is wise, and who pretends to be wise,
1376
+ and is not. What would not a man give, O judges, to be able to examine
1377
+ the leader of the great Trojan expedition; or Odysseus or Sisyphus, or
1378
+ numberless others, men and women too! What infinite delight would there
1379
+ be in conversing with them and asking them questions! In another world
1380
+ they do not put a man to death for asking questions: assuredly not. For
1381
+ besides being happier than we are, they will be immortal, if what is
1382
+ said is true.
1383
+
1384
+ Wherefore, O judges, be of good cheer about death, and know of a
1385
+ certainty, that no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or
1386
+ after death. He and his are not neglected by the gods; nor has my own
1387
+ approaching end happened by mere chance. But I see clearly that the
1388
+ time had arrived when it was better for me to die and be released from
1389
+ trouble; wherefore the oracle gave no sign. For which reason, also, I
1390
+ am not angry with my condemners, or with my accusers; they have done me
1391
+ no harm, although they did not mean to do me any good; and for this I
1392
+ may gently blame them.
1393
+
1394
+ Still I have a favour to ask of them. When my sons are grown up, I
1395
+ would ask you, O my friends, to punish them; and I would have you
1396
+ trouble them, as I have troubled you, if they seem to care about
1397
+ riches, or anything, more than about virtue; or if they pretend to be
1398
+ something when they are really nothing,--then reprove them, as I have
1399
+ reproved you, for not caring about that for which they ought to care,
1400
+ and thinking that they are something when they are really nothing. And
1401
+ if you do this, both I and my sons will have received justice at your
1402
+ hands.
1403
+
1404
+ The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways--I to die, and you
1405
+ to live. Which is better God only knows.
1406
+
1407
+ End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Apology, by Plato
data/plato_crito.txt ADDED
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1
+ This etext was prepared by Sue Asscher <asschers@aia.net.au>
2
+
3
+ CRITO
4
+
5
+ by Plato
6
+
7
+ Translated by Benjamin Jowett
8
+
9
+ INTRODUCTION.
10
+
11
+ The Crito seems intended to exhibit the character of Socrates in one light
12
+ only, not as the philosopher, fulfilling a divine mission and trusting in
13
+ the will of heaven, but simply as the good citizen, who having been
14
+ unjustly condemned is willing to give up his life in obedience to the laws
15
+ of the state...
16
+
17
+ The days of Socrates are drawing to a close; the fatal ship has been seen
18
+ off Sunium, as he is informed by his aged friend and contemporary Crito,
19
+ who visits him before the dawn has broken; he himself has been warned in a
20
+ dream that on the third day he must depart. Time is precious, and Crito
21
+ has come early in order to gain his consent to a plan of escape. This can
22
+ be easily accomplished by his friends, who will incur no danger in making
23
+ the attempt to save him, but will be disgraced for ever if they allow him
24
+ to perish. He should think of his duty to his children, and not play into
25
+ the hands of his enemies. Money is already provided by Crito as well as by
26
+ Simmias and others, and he will have no difficulty in finding friends in
27
+ Thessaly and other places.
28
+
29
+ Socrates is afraid that Crito is but pressing upon him the opinions of the
30
+ many: whereas, all his life long he has followed the dictates of reason
31
+ only and the opinion of the one wise or skilled man. There was a time when
32
+ Crito himself had allowed the propriety of this. And although some one
33
+ will say 'the many can kill us,' that makes no difference; but a good life,
34
+ in other words, a just and honourable life, is alone to be valued. All
35
+ considerations of loss of reputation or injury to his children should be
36
+ dismissed: the only question is whether he would be right in attempting to
37
+ escape. Crito, who is a disinterested person not having the fear of death
38
+ before his eyes, shall answer this for him. Before he was condemned they
39
+ had often held discussions, in which they agreed that no man should either
40
+ do evil, or return evil for evil, or betray the right. Are these
41
+ principles to be altered because the circumstances of Socrates are altered?
42
+ Crito admits that they remain the same. Then is his escape consistent with
43
+ the maintenance of them? To this Crito is unable or unwilling to reply.
44
+
45
+ Socrates proceeds:--Suppose the Laws of Athens to come and remonstrate with
46
+ him: they will ask 'Why does he seek to overturn them?' and if he replies,
47
+ 'they have injured him,' will not the Laws answer, 'Yes, but was that the
48
+ agreement? Has he any objection to make to them which would justify him in
49
+ overturning them? Was he not brought into the world and educated by their
50
+ help, and are they not his parents? He might have left Athens and gone
51
+ where he pleased, but he has lived there for seventy years more constantly
52
+ than any other citizen.' Thus he has clearly shown that he acknowledged
53
+ the agreement, which he cannot now break without dishonour to himself and
54
+ danger to his friends. Even in the course of the trial he might have
55
+ proposed exile as the penalty, but then he declared that he preferred death
56
+ to exile. And whither will he direct his footsteps? In any well-ordered
57
+ state the Laws will consider him as an enemy. Possibly in a land of
58
+ misrule like Thessaly he may be welcomed at first, and the unseemly
59
+ narrative of his escape will be regarded by the inhabitants as an amusing
60
+ tale. But if he offends them he will have to learn another sort of lesson.
61
+ Will he continue to give lectures in virtue? That would hardly be decent.
62
+ And how will his children be the gainers if he takes them into Thessaly,
63
+ and deprives them of Athenian citizenship? Or if he leaves them behind,
64
+ does he expect that they will be better taken care of by his friends
65
+ because he is in Thessaly? Will not true friends care for them equally
66
+ whether he is alive or dead?
67
+
68
+ Finally, they exhort him to think of justice first, and of life and
69
+ children afterwards. He may now depart in peace and innocence, a sufferer
70
+ and not a doer of evil. But if he breaks agreements, and returns evil for
71
+ evil, they will be angry with him while he lives; and their brethren the
72
+ Laws of the world below will receive him as an enemy. Such is the mystic
73
+ voice which is always murmuring in his ears.
74
+
75
+ That Socrates was not a good citizen was a charge made against him during
76
+ his lifetime, which has been often repeated in later ages. The crimes of
77
+ Alcibiades, Critias, and Charmides, who had been his pupils, were still
78
+ recent in the memory of the now restored democracy. The fact that he had
79
+ been neutral in the death-struggle of Athens was not likely to conciliate
80
+ popular good-will. Plato, writing probably in the next generation,
81
+ undertakes the defence of his friend and master in this particular, not to
82
+ the Athenians of his day, but to posterity and the world at large.
83
+
84
+ Whether such an incident ever really occurred as the visit of Crito and the
85
+ proposal of escape is uncertain: Plato could easily have invented far more
86
+ than that (Phaedr.); and in the selection of Crito, the aged friend, as the
87
+ fittest person to make the proposal to Socrates, we seem to recognize the
88
+ hand of the artist. Whether any one who has been subjected by the laws of
89
+ his country to an unjust judgment is right in attempting to escape, is a
90
+ thesis about which casuists might disagree. Shelley (Prose Works) is of
91
+ opinion that Socrates 'did well to die,' but not for the 'sophistical'
92
+ reasons which Plato has put into his mouth. And there would be no
93
+ difficulty in arguing that Socrates should have lived and preferred to a
94
+ glorious death the good which he might still be able to perform. 'A
95
+ rhetorician would have had much to say upon that point.' It may be
96
+ observed however that Plato never intended to answer the question of
97
+ casuistry, but only to exhibit the ideal of patient virtue which refuses to
98
+ do the least evil in order to avoid the greatest, and to show his master
99
+ maintaining in death the opinions which he had professed in his life. Not
100
+ 'the world,' but the 'one wise man,' is still the paradox of Socrates in
101
+ his last hours. He must be guided by reason, although her conclusions may
102
+ be fatal to him. The remarkable sentiment that the wicked can do neither
103
+ good nor evil is true, if taken in the sense, which he means, of moral
104
+ evil; in his own words, 'they cannot make a man wise or foolish.'
105
+
106
+ This little dialogue is a perfect piece of dialectic, in which granting the
107
+ 'common principle,' there is no escaping from the conclusion. It is
108
+ anticipated at the beginning by the dream of Socrates and the parody of
109
+ Homer. The personification of the Laws, and of their brethren the Laws in
110
+ the world below, is one of the noblest and boldest figures of speech which
111
+ occur in Plato.
112
+
113
+ CRITO
114
+
115
+ by
116
+
117
+ Plato
118
+
119
+ Translated by Benjamin Jowett
120
+
121
+ PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: Socrates, Crito.
122
+
123
+ SCENE: The Prison of Socrates.
124
+
125
+ SOCRATES: Why have you come at this hour, Crito? it must be quite early.
126
+
127
+ CRITO: Yes, certainly.
128
+
129
+ SOCRATES: What is the exact time?
130
+
131
+ CRITO: The dawn is breaking.
132
+
133
+ SOCRATES: I wonder that the keeper of the prison would let you in.
134
+
135
+ CRITO: He knows me because I often come, Socrates; moreover. I have done
136
+ him a kindness.
137
+
138
+ SOCRATES: And are you only just arrived?
139
+
140
+ CRITO: No, I came some time ago.
141
+
142
+ SOCRATES: Then why did you sit and say nothing, instead of at once
143
+ awakening me?
144
+
145
+ CRITO: I should not have liked myself, Socrates, to be in such great
146
+ trouble and unrest as you are--indeed I should not: I have been watching
147
+ with amazement your peaceful slumbers; and for that reason I did not awake
148
+ you, because I wished to minimize the pain. I have always thought you to
149
+ be of a happy disposition; but never did I see anything like the easy,
150
+ tranquil manner in which you bear this calamity.
151
+
152
+ SOCRATES: Why, Crito, when a man has reached my age he ought not to be
153
+ repining at the approach of death.
154
+
155
+ CRITO: And yet other old men find themselves in similar misfortunes, and
156
+ age does not prevent them from repining.
157
+
158
+ SOCRATES: That is true. But you have not told me why you come at this
159
+ early hour.
160
+
161
+ CRITO: I come to bring you a message which is sad and painful; not, as I
162
+ believe, to yourself, but to all of us who are your friends, and saddest of
163
+ all to me.
164
+
165
+ SOCRATES: What? Has the ship come from Delos, on the arrival of which I
166
+ am to die?
167
+
168
+ CRITO: No, the ship has not actually arrived, but she will probably be
169
+ here to-day, as persons who have come from Sunium tell me that they have
170
+ left her there; and therefore to-morrow, Socrates, will be the last day of
171
+ your life.
172
+
173
+ SOCRATES: Very well, Crito; if such is the will of God, I am willing; but
174
+ my belief is that there will be a delay of a day.
175
+
176
+ CRITO: Why do you think so?
177
+
178
+ SOCRATES: I will tell you. I am to die on the day after the arrival of
179
+ the ship?
180
+
181
+ CRITO: Yes; that is what the authorities say.
182
+
183
+ SOCRATES: But I do not think that the ship will be here until to-morrow;
184
+ this I infer from a vision which I had last night, or rather only just now,
185
+ when you fortunately allowed me to sleep.
186
+
187
+ CRITO: And what was the nature of the vision?
188
+
189
+ SOCRATES: There appeared to me the likeness of a woman, fair and comely,
190
+ clothed in bright raiment, who called to me and said: O Socrates,
191
+
192
+ 'The third day hence to fertile Phthia shalt thou go.' (Homer, Il.)
193
+
194
+ CRITO: What a singular dream, Socrates!
195
+
196
+ SOCRATES: There can be no doubt about the meaning, Crito, I think.
197
+
198
+ CRITO: Yes; the meaning is only too clear. But, oh! my beloved Socrates,
199
+ let me entreat you once more to take my advice and escape. For if you die
200
+ I shall not only lose a friend who can never be replaced, but there is
201
+ another evil: people who do not know you and me will believe that I might
202
+ have saved you if I had been willing to give money, but that I did not
203
+ care. Now, can there be a worse disgrace than this--that I should be
204
+ thought to value money more than the life of a friend? For the many will
205
+ not be persuaded that I wanted you to escape, and that you refused.
206
+
207
+ SOCRATES: But why, my dear Crito, should we care about the opinion of the
208
+ many? Good men, and they are the only persons who are worth considering,
209
+ will think of these things truly as they occurred.
210
+
211
+ CRITO: But you see, Socrates, that the opinion of the many must be
212
+ regarded, for what is now happening shows that they can do the greatest
213
+ evil to any one who has lost their good opinion.
214
+
215
+ SOCRATES: I only wish it were so, Crito; and that the many could do the
216
+ greatest evil; for then they would also be able to do the greatest good--
217
+ and what a fine thing this would be! But in reality they can do neither;
218
+ for they cannot make a man either wise or foolish; and whatever they do is
219
+ the result of chance.
220
+
221
+ CRITO: Well, I will not dispute with you; but please to tell me, Socrates,
222
+ whether you are not acting out of regard to me and your other friends: are
223
+ you not afraid that if you escape from prison we may get into trouble with
224
+ the informers for having stolen you away, and lose either the whole or a
225
+ great part of our property; or that even a worse evil may happen to us?
226
+ Now, if you fear on our account, be at ease; for in order to save you, we
227
+ ought surely to run this, or even a greater risk; be persuaded, then, and
228
+ do as I say.
229
+
230
+ SOCRATES: Yes, Crito, that is one fear which you mention, but by no means
231
+ the only one.
232
+
233
+ CRITO: Fear not--there are persons who are willing to get you out of
234
+ prison at no great cost; and as for the informers they are far from being
235
+ exorbitant in their demands--a little money will satisfy them. My means,
236
+ which are certainly ample, are at your service, and if you have a scruple
237
+ about spending all mine, here are strangers who will give you the use of
238
+ theirs; and one of them, Simmias the Theban, has brought a large sum of
239
+ money for this very purpose; and Cebes and many others are prepared to
240
+ spend their money in helping you to escape. I say, therefore, do not
241
+ hesitate on our account, and do not say, as you did in the court (compare
242
+ Apol.), that you will have a difficulty in knowing what to do with yourself
243
+ anywhere else. For men will love you in other places to which you may go,
244
+ and not in Athens only; there are friends of mine in Thessaly, if you like
245
+ to go to them, who will value and protect you, and no Thessalian will give
246
+ you any trouble. Nor can I think that you are at all justified, Socrates,
247
+ in betraying your own life when you might be saved; in acting thus you are
248
+ playing into the hands of your enemies, who are hurrying on your
249
+ destruction. And further I should say that you are deserting your own
250
+ children; for you might bring them up and educate them; instead of which
251
+ you go away and leave them, and they will have to take their chance; and if
252
+ they do not meet with the usual fate of orphans, there will be small thanks
253
+ to you. No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to
254
+ persevere to the end in their nurture and education. But you appear to be
255
+ choosing the easier part, not the better and manlier, which would have been
256
+ more becoming in one who professes to care for virtue in all his actions,
257
+ like yourself. And indeed, I am ashamed not only of you, but of us who are
258
+ your friends, when I reflect that the whole business will be attributed
259
+ entirely to our want of courage. The trial need never have come on, or
260
+ might have been managed differently; and this last act, or crowning folly,
261
+ will seem to have occurred through our negligence and cowardice, who might
262
+ have saved you, if we had been good for anything; and you might have saved
263
+ yourself, for there was no difficulty at all. See now, Socrates, how sad
264
+ and discreditable are the consequences, both to us and you. Make up your
265
+ mind then, or rather have your mind already made up, for the time of
266
+ deliberation is over, and there is only one thing to be done, which must be
267
+ done this very night, and if we delay at all will be no longer practicable
268
+ or possible; I beseech you therefore, Socrates, be persuaded by me, and do
269
+ as I say.
270
+
271
+ SOCRATES: Dear Crito, your zeal is invaluable, if a right one; but if
272
+ wrong, the greater the zeal the greater the danger; and therefore we ought
273
+ to consider whether I shall or shall not do as you say. For I am and
274
+ always have been one of those natures who must be guided by reason,
275
+ whatever the reason may be which upon reflection appears to me to be the
276
+ best; and now that this chance has befallen me, I cannot repudiate my own
277
+ words: the principles which I have hitherto honoured and revered I still
278
+ honour, and unless we can at once find other and better principles, I am
279
+ certain not to agree with you; no, not even if the power of the multitude
280
+ could inflict many more imprisonments, confiscations, deaths, frightening
281
+ us like children with hobgoblin terrors (compare Apol.). What will be the
282
+ fairest way of considering the question? Shall I return to your old
283
+ argument about the opinions of men?--we were saying that some of them are
284
+ to be regarded, and others not. Now were we right in maintaining this
285
+ before I was condemned? And has the argument which was once good now
286
+ proved to be talk for the sake of talking--mere childish nonsense? That is
287
+ what I want to consider with your help, Crito:--whether, under my present
288
+ circumstances, the argument appears to be in any way different or not; and
289
+ is to be allowed by me or disallowed. That argument, which, as I believe,
290
+ is maintained by many persons of authority, was to the effect, as I was
291
+ saying, that the opinions of some men are to be regarded, and of other men
292
+ not to be regarded. Now you, Crito, are not going to die to-morrow--at
293
+ least, there is no human probability of this, and therefore you are
294
+ disinterested and not liable to be deceived by the circumstances in which
295
+ you are placed. Tell me then, whether I am right in saying that some
296
+ opinions, and the opinions of some men only, are to be valued, and that
297
+ other opinions, and the opinions of other men, are not to be valued. I ask
298
+ you whether I was right in maintaining this?
299
+
300
+ CRITO: Certainly.
301
+
302
+ SOCRATES: The good are to be regarded, and not the bad?
303
+
304
+ CRITO: Yes.
305
+
306
+ SOCRATES: And the opinions of the wise are good, and the opinions of the
307
+ unwise are evil?
308
+
309
+ CRITO: Certainly.
310
+
311
+ SOCRATES: And what was said about another matter? Is the pupil who
312
+ devotes himself to the practice of gymnastics supposed to attend to the
313
+ praise and blame and opinion of every man, or of one man only--his
314
+ physician or trainer, whoever he may be?
315
+
316
+ CRITO: Of one man only.
317
+
318
+ SOCRATES: And he ought to fear the censure and welcome the praise of that
319
+ one only, and not of the many?
320
+
321
+ CRITO: Clearly so.
322
+
323
+ SOCRATES: And he ought to act and train, and eat and drink in the way
324
+ which seems good to his single master who has understanding, rather than
325
+ according to the opinion of all other men put together?
326
+
327
+ CRITO: True.
328
+
329
+ SOCRATES: And if he disobeys and disregards the opinion and approval of
330
+ the one, and regards the opinion of the many who have no understanding,
331
+ will he not suffer evil?
332
+
333
+ CRITO: Certainly he will.
334
+
335
+ SOCRATES: And what will the evil be, whither tending and what affecting,
336
+ in the disobedient person?
337
+
338
+ CRITO: Clearly, affecting the body; that is what is destroyed by the evil.
339
+
340
+ SOCRATES: Very good; and is not this true, Crito, of other things which we
341
+ need not separately enumerate? In questions of just and unjust, fair and
342
+ foul, good and evil, which are the subjects of our present consultation,
343
+ ought we to follow the opinion of the many and to fear them; or the opinion
344
+ of the one man who has understanding? ought we not to fear and reverence
345
+ him more than all the rest of the world: and if we desert him shall we not
346
+ destroy and injure that principle in us which may be assumed to be improved
347
+ by justice and deteriorated by injustice;--there is such a principle?
348
+
349
+ CRITO: Certainly there is, Socrates.
350
+
351
+ SOCRATES: Take a parallel instance:--if, acting under the advice of those
352
+ who have no understanding, we destroy that which is improved by health and
353
+ is deteriorated by disease, would life be worth having? And that which has
354
+ been destroyed is--the body?
355
+
356
+ CRITO: Yes.
357
+
358
+ SOCRATES: Could we live, having an evil and corrupted body?
359
+
360
+ CRITO: Certainly not.
361
+
362
+ SOCRATES: And will life be worth having, if that higher part of man be
363
+ destroyed, which is improved by justice and depraved by injustice? Do we
364
+ suppose that principle, whatever it may be in man, which has to do with
365
+ justice and injustice, to be inferior to the body?
366
+
367
+ CRITO: Certainly not.
368
+
369
+ SOCRATES: More honourable than the body?
370
+
371
+ CRITO: Far more.
372
+
373
+ SOCRATES: Then, my friend, we must not regard what the many say of us:
374
+ but what he, the one man who has understanding of just and unjust, will
375
+ say, and what the truth will say. And therefore you begin in error when
376
+ you advise that we should regard the opinion of the many about just and
377
+ unjust, good and evil, honorable and dishonorable.--'Well,' some one will
378
+ say, 'but the many can kill us.'
379
+
380
+ CRITO: Yes, Socrates; that will clearly be the answer.
381
+
382
+ SOCRATES: And it is true; but still I find with surprise that the old
383
+ argument is unshaken as ever. And I should like to know whether I may say
384
+ the same of another proposition--that not life, but a good life, is to be
385
+ chiefly valued?
386
+
387
+ CRITO: Yes, that also remains unshaken.
388
+
389
+ SOCRATES: And a good life is equivalent to a just and honorable one--that
390
+ holds also?
391
+
392
+ CRITO: Yes, it does.
393
+
394
+ SOCRATES: From these premisses I proceed to argue the question whether I
395
+ ought or ought not to try and escape without the consent of the Athenians:
396
+ and if I am clearly right in escaping, then I will make the attempt; but if
397
+ not, I will abstain. The other considerations which you mention, of money
398
+ and loss of character and the duty of educating one's children, are, I
399
+ fear, only the doctrines of the multitude, who would be as ready to restore
400
+ people to life, if they were able, as they are to put them to death--and
401
+ with as little reason. But now, since the argument has thus far prevailed,
402
+ the only question which remains to be considered is, whether we shall do
403
+ rightly either in escaping or in suffering others to aid in our escape and
404
+ paying them in money and thanks, or whether in reality we shall not do
405
+ rightly; and if the latter, then death or any other calamity which may
406
+ ensue on my remaining here must not be allowed to enter into the
407
+ calculation.
408
+
409
+ CRITO: I think that you are right, Socrates; how then shall we proceed?
410
+
411
+ SOCRATES: Let us consider the matter together, and do you either refute me
412
+ if you can, and I will be convinced; or else cease, my dear friend, from
413
+ repeating to me that I ought to escape against the wishes of the Athenians:
414
+ for I highly value your attempts to persuade me to do so, but I may not be
415
+ persuaded against my own better judgment. And now please to consider my
416
+ first position, and try how you can best answer me.
417
+
418
+ CRITO: I will.
419
+
420
+ SOCRATES: Are we to say that we are never intentionally to do wrong, or
421
+ that in one way we ought and in another way we ought not to do wrong, or is
422
+ doing wrong always evil and dishonorable, as I was just now saying, and as
423
+ has been already acknowledged by us? Are all our former admissions which
424
+ were made within a few days to be thrown away? And have we, at our age,
425
+ been earnestly discoursing with one another all our life long only to
426
+ discover that we are no better than children? Or, in spite of the opinion
427
+ of the many, and in spite of consequences whether better or worse, shall we
428
+ insist on the truth of what was then said, that injustice is always an evil
429
+ and dishonour to him who acts unjustly? Shall we say so or not?
430
+
431
+ CRITO: Yes.
432
+
433
+ SOCRATES: Then we must do no wrong?
434
+
435
+ CRITO: Certainly not.
436
+
437
+ SOCRATES: Nor when injured injure in return, as the many imagine; for we
438
+ must injure no one at all? (E.g. compare Rep.)
439
+
440
+ CRITO: Clearly not.
441
+
442
+ SOCRATES: Again, Crito, may we do evil?
443
+
444
+ CRITO: Surely not, Socrates.
445
+
446
+ SOCRATES: And what of doing evil in return for evil, which is the morality
447
+ of the many--is that just or not?
448
+
449
+ CRITO: Not just.
450
+
451
+ SOCRATES: For doing evil to another is the same as injuring him?
452
+
453
+ CRITO: Very true.
454
+
455
+ SOCRATES: Then we ought not to retaliate or render evil for evil to any
456
+ one, whatever evil we may have suffered from him. But I would have you
457
+ consider, Crito, whether you really mean what you are saying. For this
458
+ opinion has never been held, and never will be held, by any considerable
459
+ number of persons; and those who are agreed and those who are not agreed
460
+ upon this point have no common ground, and can only despise one another
461
+ when they see how widely they differ. Tell me, then, whether you agree
462
+ with and assent to my first principle, that neither injury nor retaliation
463
+ nor warding off evil by evil is ever right. And shall that be the premiss
464
+ of our argument? Or do you decline and dissent from this? For so I have
465
+ ever thought, and continue to think; but, if you are of another opinion,
466
+ let me hear what you have to say. If, however, you remain of the same mind
467
+ as formerly, I will proceed to the next step.
468
+
469
+ CRITO: You may proceed, for I have not changed my mind.
470
+
471
+ SOCRATES: Then I will go on to the next point, which may be put in the
472
+ form of a question:--Ought a man to do what he admits to be right, or ought
473
+ he to betray the right?
474
+
475
+ CRITO: He ought to do what he thinks right.
476
+
477
+ SOCRATES: But if this is true, what is the application? In leaving the
478
+ prison against the will of the Athenians, do I wrong any? or rather do I
479
+ not wrong those whom I ought least to wrong? Do I not desert the
480
+ principles which were acknowledged by us to be just--what do you say?
481
+
482
+ CRITO: I cannot tell, Socrates, for I do not know.
483
+
484
+ SOCRATES: Then consider the matter in this way:--Imagine that I am about
485
+ to play truant (you may call the proceeding by any name which you like),
486
+ and the laws and the government come and interrogate me: 'Tell us,
487
+ Socrates,' they say; 'what are you about? are you not going by an act of
488
+ yours to overturn us--the laws, and the whole state, as far as in you lies?
489
+ Do you imagine that a state can subsist and not be overthrown, in which the
490
+ decisions of law have no power, but are set aside and trampled upon by
491
+ individuals?' What will be our answer, Crito, to these and the like words?
492
+ Any one, and especially a rhetorician, will have a good deal to say on
493
+ behalf of the law which requires a sentence to be carried out. He will
494
+ argue that this law should not be set aside; and shall we reply, 'Yes; but
495
+ the state has injured us and given an unjust sentence.' Suppose I say
496
+ that?
497
+
498
+ CRITO: Very good, Socrates.
499
+
500
+ SOCRATES: 'And was that our agreement with you?' the law would answer; 'or
501
+ were you to abide by the sentence of the state?' And if I were to express
502
+ my astonishment at their words, the law would probably add: 'Answer,
503
+ Socrates, instead of opening your eyes--you are in the habit of asking and
504
+ answering questions. Tell us,--What complaint have you to make against us
505
+ which justifies you in attempting to destroy us and the state? In the
506
+ first place did we not bring you into existence? Your father married your
507
+ mother by our aid and begat you. Say whether you have any objection to
508
+ urge against those of us who regulate marriage?' None, I should reply.
509
+ 'Or against those of us who after birth regulate the nurture and education
510
+ of children, in which you also were trained? Were not the laws, which have
511
+ the charge of education, right in commanding your father to train you in
512
+ music and gymnastic?' Right, I should reply. 'Well then, since you were
513
+ brought into the world and nurtured and educated by us, can you deny in the
514
+ first place that you are our child and slave, as your fathers were before
515
+ you? And if this is true you are not on equal terms with us; nor can you
516
+ think that you have a right to do to us what we are doing to you. Would
517
+ you have any right to strike or revile or do any other evil to your father
518
+ or your master, if you had one, because you have been struck or reviled by
519
+ him, or received some other evil at his hands?--you would not say this?
520
+ And because we think right to destroy you, do you think that you have any
521
+ right to destroy us in return, and your country as far as in you lies?
522
+ Will you, O professor of true virtue, pretend that you are justified in
523
+ this? Has a philosopher like you failed to discover that our country is
524
+ more to be valued and higher and holier far than mother or father or any
525
+ ancestor, and more to be regarded in the eyes of the gods and of men of
526
+ understanding? also to be soothed, and gently and reverently entreated when
527
+ angry, even more than a father, and either to be persuaded, or if not
528
+ persuaded, to be obeyed? And when we are punished by her, whether with
529
+ imprisonment or stripes, the punishment is to be endured in silence; and if
530
+ she lead us to wounds or death in battle, thither we follow as is right;
531
+ neither may any one yield or retreat or leave his rank, but whether in
532
+ battle or in a court of law, or in any other place, he must do what his
533
+ city and his country order him; or he must change their view of what is
534
+ just: and if he may do no violence to his father or mother, much less may
535
+ he do violence to his country.' What answer shall we make to this, Crito?
536
+ Do the laws speak truly, or do they not?
537
+
538
+ CRITO: I think that they do.
539
+
540
+ SOCRATES: Then the laws will say: 'Consider, Socrates, if we are speaking
541
+ truly that in your present attempt you are going to do us an injury. For,
542
+ having brought you into the world, and nurtured and educated you, and given
543
+ you and every other citizen a share in every good which we had to give, we
544
+ further proclaim to any Athenian by the liberty which we allow him, that if
545
+ he does not like us when he has become of age and has seen the ways of the
546
+ city, and made our acquaintance, he may go where he pleases and take his
547
+ goods with him. None of us laws will forbid him or interfere with him.
548
+ Any one who does not like us and the city, and who wants to emigrate to a
549
+ colony or to any other city, may go where he likes, retaining his property.
550
+ But he who has experience of the manner in which we order justice and
551
+ administer the state, and still remains, has entered into an implied
552
+ contract that he will do as we command him. And he who disobeys us is, as
553
+ we maintain, thrice wrong: first, because in disobeying us he is
554
+ disobeying his parents; secondly, because we are the authors of his
555
+ education; thirdly, because he has made an agreement with us that he will
556
+ duly obey our commands; and he neither obeys them nor convinces us that our
557
+ commands are unjust; and we do not rudely impose them, but give him the
558
+ alternative of obeying or convincing us;--that is what we offer, and he
559
+ does neither.
560
+
561
+ 'These are the sort of accusations to which, as we were saying, you,
562
+ Socrates, will be exposed if you accomplish your intentions; you, above all
563
+ other Athenians.' Suppose now I ask, why I rather than anybody else? they
564
+ will justly retort upon me that I above all other men have acknowledged the
565
+ agreement. 'There is clear proof,' they will say, 'Socrates, that we and
566
+ the city were not displeasing to you. Of all Athenians you have been the
567
+ most constant resident in the city, which, as you never leave, you may be
568
+ supposed to love (compare Phaedr.). For you never went out of the city
569
+ either to see the games, except once when you went to the Isthmus, or to
570
+ any other place unless when you were on military service; nor did you
571
+ travel as other men do. Nor had you any curiosity to know other states or
572
+ their laws: your affections did not go beyond us and our state; we were
573
+ your especial favourites, and you acquiesced in our government of you; and
574
+ here in this city you begat your children, which is a proof of your
575
+ satisfaction. Moreover, you might in the course of the trial, if you had
576
+ liked, have fixed the penalty at banishment; the state which refuses to let
577
+ you go now would have let you go then. But you pretended that you
578
+ preferred death to exile (compare Apol.), and that you were not unwilling
579
+ to die. And now you have forgotten these fine sentiments, and pay no
580
+ respect to us the laws, of whom you are the destroyer; and are doing what
581
+ only a miserable slave would do, running away and turning your back upon
582
+ the compacts and agreements which you made as a citizen. And first of all
583
+ answer this very question: Are we right in saying that you agreed to be
584
+ governed according to us in deed, and not in word only? Is that true or
585
+ not?' How shall we answer, Crito? Must we not assent?
586
+
587
+ CRITO: We cannot help it, Socrates.
588
+
589
+ SOCRATES: Then will they not say: 'You, Socrates, are breaking the
590
+ covenants and agreements which you made with us at your leisure, not in any
591
+ haste or under any compulsion or deception, but after you have had seventy
592
+ years to think of them, during which time you were at liberty to leave the
593
+ city, if we were not to your mind, or if our covenants appeared to you to
594
+ be unfair. You had your choice, and might have gone either to Lacedaemon
595
+ or Crete, both which states are often praised by you for their good
596
+ government, or to some other Hellenic or foreign state. Whereas you, above
597
+ all other Athenians, seemed to be so fond of the state, or, in other words,
598
+ of us her laws (and who would care about a state which has no laws?), that
599
+ you never stirred out of her; the halt, the blind, the maimed, were not
600
+ more stationary in her than you were. And now you run away and forsake
601
+ your agreements. Not so, Socrates, if you will take our advice; do not
602
+ make yourself ridiculous by escaping out of the city.
603
+
604
+ 'For just consider, if you transgress and err in this sort of way, what
605
+ good will you do either to yourself or to your friends? That your friends
606
+ will be driven into exile and deprived of citizenship, or will lose their
607
+ property, is tolerably certain; and you yourself, if you fly to one of the
608
+ neighbouring cities, as, for example, Thebes or Megara, both of which are
609
+ well governed, will come to them as an enemy, Socrates, and their
610
+ government will be against you, and all patriotic citizens will cast an
611
+ evil eye upon you as a subverter of the laws, and you will confirm in the
612
+ minds of the judges the justice of their own condemnation of you. For he
613
+ who is a corrupter of the laws is more than likely to be a corrupter of the
614
+ young and foolish portion of mankind. Will you then flee from well-ordered
615
+ cities and virtuous men? and is existence worth having on these terms? Or
616
+ will you go to them without shame, and talk to them, Socrates? And what
617
+ will you say to them? What you say here about virtue and justice and
618
+ institutions and laws being the best things among men? Would that be
619
+ decent of you? Surely not. But if you go away from well-governed states
620
+ to Crito's friends in Thessaly, where there is great disorder and licence,
621
+ they will be charmed to hear the tale of your escape from prison, set off
622
+ with ludicrous particulars of the manner in which you were wrapped in a
623
+ goatskin or some other disguise, and metamorphosed as the manner is of
624
+ runaways; but will there be no one to remind you that in your old age you
625
+ were not ashamed to violate the most sacred laws from a miserable desire of
626
+ a little more life? Perhaps not, if you keep them in a good temper; but if
627
+ they are out of temper you will hear many degrading things; you will live,
628
+ but how?--as the flatterer of all men, and the servant of all men; and
629
+ doing what?--eating and drinking in Thessaly, having gone abroad in order
630
+ that you may get a dinner. And where will be your fine sentiments about
631
+ justice and virtue? Say that you wish to live for the sake of your
632
+ children--you want to bring them up and educate them--will you take them
633
+ into Thessaly and deprive them of Athenian citizenship? Is this the
634
+ benefit which you will confer upon them? Or are you under the impression
635
+ that they will be better cared for and educated here if you are still
636
+ alive, although absent from them; for your friends will take care of them?
637
+ Do you fancy that if you are an inhabitant of Thessaly they will take care
638
+ of them, and if you are an inhabitant of the other world that they will not
639
+ take care of them? Nay; but if they who call themselves friends are good
640
+ for anything, they will--to be sure they will.
641
+
642
+ 'Listen, then, Socrates, to us who have brought you up. Think not of life
643
+ and children first, and of justice afterwards, but of justice first, that
644
+ you may be justified before the princes of the world below. For neither
645
+ will you nor any that belong to you be happier or holier or juster in this
646
+ life, or happier in another, if you do as Crito bids. Now you depart in
647
+ innocence, a sufferer and not a doer of evil; a victim, not of the laws,
648
+ but of men. But if you go forth, returning evil for evil, and injury for
649
+ injury, breaking the covenants and agreements which you have made with us,
650
+ and wronging those whom you ought least of all to wrong, that is to say,
651
+ yourself, your friends, your country, and us, we shall be angry with you
652
+ while you live, and our brethren, the laws in the world below, will receive
653
+ you as an enemy; for they will know that you have done your best to destroy
654
+ us. Listen, then, to us and not to Crito.'
655
+
656
+ This, dear Crito, is the voice which I seem to hear murmuring in my ears,
657
+ like the sound of the flute in the ears of the mystic; that voice, I say,
658
+ is humming in my ears, and prevents me from hearing any other. And I know
659
+ that anything more which you may say will be vain. Yet speak, if you have
660
+ anything to say.
661
+
662
+ CRITO: I have nothing to say, Socrates.
663
+
664
+ SOCRATES: Leave me then, Crito, to fulfil the will of God, and to follow
665
+ whither he leads.
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