Plutarch

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (ca. 46 - 127) was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist.

Sourced

• Pompey had fought brilliantly and in the end routed Caesar's whole force... but either he was unable to or else he feared to push on. Caesar [said] to his friends: 'Today the enemy would have won, if they had had a commander who was a winner.'
  • The Life of Pompey.

• Thus they let their anger and fury take from them the sense of humanity, and demonstrated that no beast is more savage than man when possessed with power answerable to his rage.
  • "The Life of Cicero".

• As geographers, Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps parts of the world which they do not know about, adding notes in the margin to the effect that beyond this lies nothing but sandy deserts full of wild beasts, and unapproachable bogs.
  • Life of Theseus, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

• From Themistocles began the saying, "He is a second Hercules."
  • Life of Theseus, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Life of Themistocles

Quotes reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

• Themistocles said that he certainly could not make use of any stringed instrument; could only, were a small and obscure city put into his hands, make it great and glorious.

• Eurybiades lifting up his staff as if he were going to strike, Themistocles said, "Strike, if you will; but hear".

• Themistocles said to Antiphales, "Time, young man, has taught us both a lesson".

• Laughing at his own son, who got his mother, and by his mother's means his father also, to indulge him, he told him that he had the most power of any one in Greece: "For the Athenians command the rest of Greece, I command the Athenians, your mother commands me, and you command your mother".

• "You speak truth," said Themistocles; "I should never have been famous if I had been of Seriphus; 4 nor you, had you been of Athens".

• Themistocles said that a man's discourse was like to a rich Persian carpet, the beautiful figures and patterns of which can be shown only by spreading and extending it out; when it is contracted and folded up, they are obscured and lost.

• When he was in great prosperity, and courted by many, seeing himself splendidly served at his table, he turned to his children and said: "Children, we had been undone, if we had not been undone".

Parallel Lives

• By the study of their biographies, we receive each man as a guest into our minds, and we seem to understand their character as the result of a personal acquaintance, because we have obtained from their acts the best and most important means of forming an opinion about them. "What greater pleasure could'st thou gain than this?" What more valuable for the elevation of our own character?
  • Timoleon.

• Thus our judgments, if they do not borrow from reason and philosophy a fixity and steadiness of purpose in their acts, are easily swayed and influenced by the praise or blame of others, which make us distrust our own opinions.
  • Timoleon, sec. 6.

• A remorseful change of mind renders even a noble action base, whereas the determination which is grounded on knowledge and reason cannot change even if its actions fail.
  • Timoleon, sec. 6.

• These are the materials for reflection which history affords to those who choose to make use of them.
  • Aemilius, sec. 5.

• Empire may be gained by gold, not gold by empire. It used, indeed, to be a proverb that "It is not Philip, but Philip's gold that takes the cities of Greece."
  • Aemilius, sec. 12.

• It is not reasonable that he who does not shoot should hit the mark, nor that he who does not stand fast at his post should win the day, or that the helpless man should succeed or the coward prosper.
  • Aemilius, sec. 19.

• Valour, however unfortunate, commands great respect even from enemies: but the Romans despise cowardice, even though it be prosperous.
  • Aemilius, sec. 26.

• Ought a man to be confident that he deserves his good fortune, and think much of himself when he has overcome a nation, or city, or empire; or does fortune give this as an example to the victor also of the uncertainty of human affairs, which never continue in one stay? For what time can there be for us mortals to feel confident, when our victories over others especially compel us to dread fortune, and while we are exulting, the reflection that the fatal day comes now to one, now to another, in regular succession, dashes our joy.
  • Aemilius, sec. 27.

• A Roman divorced from his wife, being highly blamed by his friends, who demanded, "Was she not chaste? Was she not fair? Was she not fruitful?" holding out his shoe, asked them whether it was not new and well made. "Yet," added he, "none of you can tell where it pinches me."
  • Aemilius Paulus, sec. 29.

• And it is said that when he took his seat for the first time under the golden canopy on the royal throne, Demaratus the Corinthian, a well-meaning man and a friend of Alexander's, as he had been of Alexander's father, burst into tears, as old men will, and declared that those Hellenes were deprived of great pleasure who had died before seeing Alexander seated on the throne of Dareius.
  • Alexander, 37, 7 (Loeb).

• Moral habits, induced by public practices, are far quicker in making their way into men's private lives, than the failings and faults of individuals are in infecting the city at large.
  • Lysander, sec. 17.

• Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.
  • Sertorius, sec. 16.

• Good fortune will elevate even petty minds, and give them the appearance of a certain greatness and stateliness, as from their high place they look down upon the world; but the truly noble and resolved spirit raises itself, and becomes more conspicuous in times of disaster and ill fortune.
  • Eumenes, sec. 9.

• Authority and place demonstrate and try the tempers of men, by moving every passion and discovering every frailty.
  • Demosthenes and Cicero, sec. 3.

• Medicine, to produce health, has to examine disease; and music, to create harmony, must investigate discord.
  • Demetrius, sec. 1.

• The abuse of buying and selling votes crept in and money began to play an important part in determining the elections.
  • Gaius Marcius (Coriolanus) 14.2, translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert, Makers of Rome: Nine Lives by Plutarch (Harmondsworth : Penguin Books 1965) ISBN 0140441581, p. 27.

Caesar

• Fate, however, is to all appearance more unavoidable than unexpected.

• When asked why he parted with his wife, Cæsar replied, "I wished my wife to be not so much as suspected."

• For my part, I had rather be the first man among these fellows than the second man in Rome.

• Using the proverb frequently in their mouths who enter upon dangerous and bold attempts, "The die is cast," he took the river.

• "And this," said Cæsar, "you know, young man, is more disagreeable for me to say than to do."

• Go on, my friend, and fear nothing; you carry Cæsar and his fortunes in your boat.

• Cæsar said to the soothsayer, "The ides of March are come;" who answered him calmly, "Yes, they are come, but they are not past."

Pericles

• Moral good is a practical stimulus; it is no sooner seen than it inspires an impulse to practise.

• For ease and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting solidity or exactness of beauty.

• So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of anything by history.

• Be ruled by time, the wisest counsellor of all.

Moralia

Of the Training of Children

• It is a desirable thing to be well descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.
  • 8.

• It is a true proverb, that if you live with a lame man, you will learn a limp.

• ἡ ἀνάπαυσις τῶν πόνων ἐστὶν ἄρτυμα.
  • Translation: Rest gives relish to labour.
  • 13.

• The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in good education.

• It is wise to be silent when occasion requires, and better than to speak, though never so well.

• For water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.

• The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in the felicity of lighting on good education.

• According to the proverb, the best things are the most difficult.

• To sing the same tune, as the saying is, is in everything cloying and offensive; but men are generally pleased with variety.

• Children are to be won to follow liberal studies by exhortations and rational motives, and on no account to be forced thereto by whipping.

• Nothing made the horse so fat as the king's eye.

• Democritus said, words are but the shadows of actions.

• 'T is a wise saying, Drive on your own track.

• Eat not thy heart; which forbids to afflict our souls, and waste them with vexatious cares.

• Abstain from beans; that is, keep out of public offices, for anciently the choice of the officers of state was made by beans.

• When men are arrived at the goal, they should not turn back.

• The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it, therefore, while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose.

• An old doting fool, with one foot already in the grave.

Others

• Socrates... said he was not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
  • Of Banishment.

• He that first started that doctrine, that knavery is the best defense against a knave, was but an ill teacher, advising us to commit wickedness to secure ourselves.
  • Of Bashfulness

• νήπιος, ὃς τὰ ἕτοιμα λιπὼν ἀνέτοιμα διώκει
  • He is a fool who leaves things close at hand to follow what is out of reach.
  • Of Garrulity.
  • Attributed to Hesiod, Frag. 219

• All men whilst they are awake are in one common world; but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.
  • Of Superstition.

• Antiphanes said merrily that in a certain city the cold was so intense that words were congealed as soon as spoken, but that after some time they thawed and became audible; so that the words spoken in winter articulated next summer.
  • Of Man's Progress in Virtue.

• When the candles are out all women are fair.
  • Conjugal Precepts.

• For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human.
  • Against Colotes.

• I for my part do much wonder in what humor, with what soul or reason, the first man with his mouth touched slaughter, and reached to his lips the flesh of a dead animal, and having set before people courses of ghastly corpses and ghosts, could give those parts the names of meat and victuals, that but a little before lowed, cried, moved, and saw; how his sight could endure the blood of slaughtered, flayed, and mangled bodies; how his smell could bear their scent; and how the very nastiness happened not to offend the taste, while it chewed the sores of others, and participated of the saps and juices of deadly wounds.
  • On the Eating of Flesh.

• But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh, we deprive a soul of the sun and light and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy.
  • On the Eating of Flesh.

• The correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting — no more — and then it motivates one towards originality and instills the desire for truth. Suppose someone were to go and ask his neighbors for fire and find a substantial blaze there, and just stay there continually warming himself: that is no different from someone who goes to someone else to get to some of his rationality, and fails to realize that he ought to ignite his own flame, his own intellect, but is happy to sit entranced by the lecture, and the words trigger only associative thinking and bring, as it were, only a flush to his cheeks and a glow to his limbs; but he has not dispelled or dispersed, in the warm light of philosophy, the internal dank gloom of his mind. First two sentences: οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἀγγεῖον ὁ νοῦς ἀποπληρώσεως ἀλλ' ὑπεκκαύματος μόνον ὥσπερ ὕλη δεῖται ὁρμὴν ἐμποιοῦντος εὑρετικὴν καὶ ὄρεξιν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν. ὥσπερ οὖν εἴ τις ἐκ γειτόνων πυρὸς δεόμενος, εἶτα πολὺ καὶ λαμπρὸν εὑρὼν αὐτοῦ καταμένοι διὰ τέλους θαλπόμενος, οὕτως εἴ τις ἥκων λόγου μεταλαβεῖν πρὸς ἄλλον οὐχ οἴεται δεῖν φῶς οἰκεῖον ἐξάπτειν καὶ νοῦν ἴδιον, ἀλλὰ χαίρων τῇ ἀκροάσει κάθηται θελγόμενος,
  • On Listening to Lectures Plutarch Moralia 48C (Variously called De auditione Philosophorum or De Auditu or De Recta Audiendi Ratione )

• By these criteria let Alexander also be judged! For from his words, from his deeds, and from the instruction' which he imparted, it will be seen that he was indeed a philosopher.
  • On the Fortune Of Alexander, I, 4, 328B Loeb, F.C. Babbitt.

• Yet through Alexander (the Great) Bactria and the Caucasus learned to revere the gods of the Greeks ... Alexander established more than seventy cities among savage tribes, and sowed all Asia with Greek magistracies ... Egypt would not have its Alexandria, nor Mesopotamia its Seleucia, nor Sogdiana its Prophthasia, nor India its Bucephalia, nor the Caucasus a Greek city, for by the founding of cities in these places savagery was extinguished and the worse element, gaining familiarity with the better, changed under its influence.
  • On the Fortune of Alexander, I, 328D, 329A Loeb, F.C. Babbitt.

• If it were not my purpose to combine foreign things with things Greek, to traverse and civilize every continent, to search out the uttermost parts of land and sea, to push the bounds of Macedonia to the farthest Ocean, and to disseminate and shower the blessings of Greek justice and peace over every nation, I should not content to sit quietly in the luxury of idle power, but I should emulate the frugality of Diogenes. But as things are, forgive me Diogenes, that I imitate Herakles, and emulate Perseus, and follow in the footsteps of Dionysos, the divine author and progenitor of my family, and desire that victorious Greeks should dance again in India and revive the memory of the Bacchic revels among the savage mountain tribes beyond the Kaukasos…
  • On the Fortune of Alexander, I, 332A Loeb, F.C Babbitt

• What spectator... would not exclaim... that through Fortune the foreign host was prevailing beyond its deserts, but through Virtue the Hellenes were holding out beyond their ability? And if the ones (i.e., the enemy) gains the upper hand, this will be the work of Fortune or of some jealous deity or of divine retribution; but if the others (i.e., the Greeks) prevail, it will be Virtue and daring, friendship and fidelity, that will win the guerdon of victory? These were, in fact, the only support that Alexander had with him at this time, since Fortune had put a barrier between him and the rest of his forces and equipment, fleets, horse, and camp. Finally, the Macedonians routed the barbarians, and, when they had fallen, pulled down their city on their heads.
  • On the Fortune of Alexander, II, 344 e-f, Loeb

Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

Quotes reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

• Scilurus on his death-bed, being about to leave four-score sons surviving, offered a bundle of darts to each of them, and bade them break them. When all refused, drawing out one by one, he easily broke them,—thus teaching them that if they held together, they would continue strong; but if they fell out and were divided, they would become weak.
  • 31 Scilurus.

• Dionysius the Elder, being asked whether he was at leisure, he replied, "God forbid that it should ever befall me!"
  • 32 Dionysius.

• A prating barber asked Archelaus how he would be trimmed. He answered, "In silence."
  • 33 Archelaus.

• When Philip had news brought him of divers and eminent successes in one day, "O Fortune!" said he, "for all these so great kindnesses do me some small mischief."
  • 34 Philip.

• There were two brothers called Both and Either; perceiving Either was a good, understanding, busy fellow, and Both a silly fellow and good for little, Philip said, "Either is both, and Both is neither."
  • 35 Philip.

• Philip being arbitrator betwixt two wicked persons, he commanded one to fly out of Macedonia and the other to pursue him.
  • 36 Philip.

• Being about to pitch his camp in a likely place, and hearing there was no hay to be had for the cattle, "What a life," said he, "is ours, since we must live according to the convenience of asses!"
  • 37 Philip.

• "These Macedonians," said he, "are a rude and clownish people, that call a spade a spade."
  • 39 Philip.

• He made one of Antipater's recommendation a judge; and perceiving afterwards that his hair and beard were coloured, he removed him, saying, "I could not think one that was faithless in his hair could be trusty in his deeds."
  • 40 Philip.

• Being nimble and light-footed, his father encouraged him to run in the Olympic race. "Yes," said he, "if there were any kings there to run with me."
  • 41 Alexander.

• When Darius offered him ten thousand talents, and to divide Asia equally with him, "I would accept it," said Parmenio, "were I Alexander." "And so truly would I," said Alexander, "if I were Parmenio." But he answered Darius that the earth could not bear two suns, nor Asia two kings.
  • 42 Alexander.

• When he was wounded with an arrow in the ankle, and many ran to him that were wont to call him a god, he said smiling, "That is blood, as you see, and not, as Homer saith, ‘such humour as distils from blessed gods.'"
  • 43 Alexander.

• Aristodemus, a friend of Antigonus, supposed to be a cook's son, advised him to moderate his gifts and expenses. "Thy words," said he, "Aristodemus, smell of the apron."
  • 44 Antigonus I.

• Thrasyllus the Cynic begged a drachm of Antigonus. "That," said he, "is too little for a king to give." "Why, then," said the other, "give me a talent." "And that," said he, "is too much for a Cynic (or, for a dog) to receive."
  • 45 Antigonus I.

• Antagoras the poet was boiling a conger, and Antigonus, coming behind him as he was stirring his skillet, said, "Do you think, Antagoras, that Homer boiled congers when he wrote the deeds of Agamemnon?" Antagoras replied, "Do you think, O king, that Agamemnon, when he did such exploits, was a peeping in his army to see who boiled congers?"
  • 46 Antigonus I.

• Pyrrhus said, "If I should overcome the Romans in another fight, I were undone."
  • 47 Pyrrhus.

• Themistocles being asked whether he would rather be Achilles or Homer, said, "Which would you rather be,—a conqueror in the Olympic games, or the crier that proclaims who are conquerors?"
  • 48 Themistocles.

• He preferred an honest man that wooed his daughter, before a rich man. "I would rather," said Themistocles, "have a man that wants money than money that wants a man."
  • 49 Themistocles.

• Alcibiades had a very handsome dog, that cost him seven thousand drachmas; and he cut off his tail, "that," said he, "the Athenians may have this story to tell of me, and may concern themselves no further with me."
  • 50 Alcibiades.

• Being summoned by the Athenians out of Sicily to plead for his life, Alcibiades absconded, saying that that criminal was a fool who studied a defence when he might fly for it.
  • 51 Alcibiades.

• Lamachus chid a captain for a fault; and when he had said he would do so no more, "Sir," said he, "in war there is no room for a second miscarriage." Said one to Iphicrates, "What are ye afraid of?" "Of all speeches," said he, "none is so dishonourable for a general as ‘I should not have thought of it.'"
  • 52 Iphicrates.

• To Harmodius, descended from the ancient Harmodius, when he reviled Iphicrates [a shoemaker's son] for his mean birth, "My nobility," said he, "begins in me, but yours ends in you."
  • 54 Iphicrates.

• Once when Phocion had delivered an opinion which pleased the people,… he turned to his friend and said, "Have I not unawares spoken some mischievous thing or other?"
  • 55 Phocion.

• Phocion compared the speeches of Leosthenes to cypress-trees. "They are tall," said he, "and comely, but bear no fruit."
  • 56 Phocion.

• Lycurgus the Lacedæmonian brought long hair into fashion among his countrymen, saying that it rendered those that were handsome more beautiful, and those that were deformed more terrible. To one that advised him to set up a democracy in Sparta, "Pray," said Lycurgus, "do you first set up a democracy in your own house."
  • 57 Lycurgus.

• King Agis said, "The Lacedæmonians are not wont to ask how many, but where the enemy are."
  • 58 Agis.

• Lysander said, "Where the lion's skin will not reach, it must be pieced with the fox's."
  • 60 Lysander.

• To one that promised to give him hardy cocks that would die fighting, "Prithee," said Cleomenes, "give me cocks that will kill fighting."
  • 61 Cleomenes.

• When Eudæmonidas heard a philosopher arguing that only a wise man can be a good general, "This is a wonderful speech," said he; "but he that saith it never heard the sound of trumpets."
  • 62 Eudæmonidas.

• A soldier told Pelopidas, "We are fallen among the enemies." Said he, "How are we fallen among them more than they among us?"
  • 63 Pelopidas.

Roman Apophthegms

Quotes reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

• Cato the elder wondered how that city was preserved wherein a fish was sold for more than an ox.
  • Cato the Elder.

• Cato instigated the magistrates to punish all offenders, saying that they that did not prevent crimes when they might, encouraged them. 64 Of young men, he liked them that blushed better than those who looked pale.
  • Cato the Elder.

• Cato requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils.
  • Cato the Elder.

• He said they that were serious in ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs.
  • Cato the Elder.

• Cicero said loud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse.
  • Cicero.

• After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they would do. "Your advice," said Cicero, "were good if we were to fight jackdaws."
  • Cicero.

• After he routed Pharnaces Ponticus at the first assault, he wrote thus to his friends: "I came, I saw, I conquered."
  • Cæsar.

• As Cæsar was at supper the discourse was of death,—which sort was the best. "That," said he, "which is unexpected."
  • Cæsar.

• As Athenodorus was taking his leave of Cæsar, "Remember," said he, "Cæsar, whenever you are angry, to say or do nothing before you have repeated the four-and-twenty letters to yourself."
  • Cæsar Augustus.

• "Young men," said Cæsar, "hear an old man to whom old men hearkened when he was young."
  • Cæsar Augustus.

Consolation to Apollonius

Quotes reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

• Socrates thought that if all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence every one must take an equal portion, most persons would be contented to take their own and depart.

• Diogenes the Cynic, when a little before his death he fell into a slumber, and his physician rousing him out of it asked him whether anything ailed him, wisely answered, "Nothing, sir; only one brother anticipates another,—Sleep before Death."

• About Pontus there are some creatures of such an extempore being that the whole term of their life is confined within the space of a day; for they are brought forth in the morning, are in the prime of their existence at noon, grow old at night, and then die.

• The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it, and not the length.

• For many, as Cranton tells us, and those very wise men, not now but long ago, have deplored the condition of human nature, esteeming life a punishment, and to be born a man the highest pitch of calamity; this, Aristotle tells us, Silenus declared when he was brought captive to Midas.

• There are two sentences inscribed upon the Delphic oracle, hugely accommodated to the usages of man's life: "Know thyself," 68 and "Nothing too much;" and upon these all other precepts depend.

Laconic Apophthegms

Quotes reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

• To one commending an orator for his skill in amplifying petty matters, Agesilaus said, "I do not think that shoemaker a good workman that makes a great shoe for a little foot."
  • Of Agesilaus the Great.

• "I will show," said Agesilaus, "that it is not the places that grace men, but men the places."
  • Of Agesilaus the Great.

• When one asked him what boys should learn, "That," said he, "which they shall use when men."
  • Of Agesilaus the Great.

• Agesilaus was very fond of his children; and it is reported that once toying with them he got astride upon a reed as upon a horse, and rode about the room; and being seen by one of his friends, he desired him not to speak of it till he had children of his own.
  • Of Agesilaus the Great.

• When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, "A fool cannot hold his tongue."
  • Of Demaratus.

• Lysander, when Dionysius sent him two gowns, and bade him choose which he would carry to his daughter, said, "She can choose best," and so took both away with him.
  • Of Lysander.

• A physician, after he had felt the pulse of Pausanias, and considered his constitution, saying, "He ails nothing," "It is because, sir," he replied, "I use none of your physic."
  • Of Pausanias the Son of Phistoanax.

• And when the physician said, "Sir, you are an old man," "That happens," replied Pausanias, "because you never were my doctor."
  • Of Pausanias the Son of Phistoanax.

• When one told Plistarchus that a notorious railer spoke well of him, "I 'll lay my life," said he, "somebody hath told him I am dead, for he can speak well of no man living."
  • Of Plistarchus.

External links

• Plutarch at Project Gutenberg