Essays

444 Pages·1992·22.169 MB·English

by  Plutarch

PENGUIN CLASSICS
Plutarch
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
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Boston, MA 02116
PENGUIN © CLASSICS
ESSAYS
Plutarch’s life spanned the second half of the first century ad and
the first quarter of the second century. He came from a wealthy and
old-established family at Chaeronea, a provincial town in Boeotia in
central Greece. He was highly educated in rhetoric and philosophy at
Athens, which remained his intellectual metropolis, but his deep inter¬
est in religion also led to an early association with Delphi, the central
shrine of Greece, where he was eventually appointed to an important
priesthood. He travelled, most crucially to Rome, where he lectured
and made many friends of considerable influence in the Roman politi¬
cal world. Nevertheless, through affection for his home town, he spent
most of his life at Chaeronea, writing and teaching, yet remaining in
contact with leading figures throughout the Graeco-Roman world,
and his reputation was recognized by an official honour from the
emperor Hadrian. His voluminous works are commonly divided into
the Parallel Lives of outstanding Greek and Roman figures, and the
Moralia. The latter are a collection of essays and lectures over an extra¬
ordinarily wide range of subjects and had a strong influence on European
literature, particularly between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.
ian kidd was born in 1922. He was educated at St Andrews Univ¬
ersity and at The Queen’s College, Oxford. He became professor of
Ancient Philosophy at St Andrews, and then Professor of Greek there.
Visiting appointments included membership of the Institute for
Advanced Study at Princeton (twice), and a Visiting Professorship at
the University of Texas at Austin. He is now Emeritus Professor of
Greek, Honorary Fellow of St Leonard’s College, St Andrews, a Fellow
of the British Academy, and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute for
Research in Classical Philosophy and Science at Princeton. His pub¬
lications have been mainly in classical and hellenistic philosophy, the
most important being the collection (with L. Edelstein) and editing
of the fragments of the Stoic philosopher, scientist and historian
Posidonius (Posidonius, The Fragments, 1972, 1989); the commentary on
them, Posidonius, The Commentary (two volumes, 1988); and their
translation, Posidonius, The Translation of the Fragments (1999).
robin waterfield was born in 1952. He graduated from Manchester
University in 1974 and went on to research ancient Greek philosophy
at King’s College, Cambridge. He has been a university lecturer, and
both copy editor and commissioning editor for Penguin. He is now a
self-employed writer with publications ranging from academic articles
to children’s fiction. He has translated various Greek philosophical
texts, including several for Penguin Classics: Xenophon’s Conversations
of Socrates and Hiero the Tyrant and Other Treatises, Plato’s Philebus and
Theaetetus and (in Plato’s Early Socratic Dialogues) Hippias Major, Hippias
Minor and Euthydemus. His biography of Kahlil Gibran, Prophet: The
Life and Times of Kahlil Gibran, is published by Penguin. He has also
edited The Voice of Kahlil Gibran for Penguin Arkana.
PLUTARCH
ESSAYS
TRANSLATED BY
ROBIN WATERFIELD
INTRODUCED AND ANNOTATED BY
IAN KIDD
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Fmt published 1992
5
Translation copyright O Robin Waterfield, 1992
Introductions and annotations copyright O Ian Kidd, 1992
All rights reserved
The moral nght of the authors has been asserted
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Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd.,
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Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject
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CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgements vii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction i
ON LISTENING
Introduction 19
Essay 27
HOW TO DISTINGUISH A FLATTERER FROM A FRIEND
Introduction 51
Essay 61
ON BEING AWARE OF MORAL PROGRESS
Introduction 113
Essay 122
WHETHER MILITARY OR INTELLECTUAL EXPLOITS
HAVE BROUGHT ATHENS MORE FAME
Introduction 147
Essay 154
ON THE AVOIDANCE OF ANGER
Introduction 168
Essay 176
ON CONTENTMENT
Introduction 202
Essay 211
CONTENTS
ON god’s SLOWNESS TO PUNISH
Introduction 239
Essay 250
ON SOCRATES’ PERSONAL DEITY
Introduction 294
Essay 308
IN CONSOLATION TO HIS WIFE
Introduction 359
Essay 365
ON THE USE OF REASON BY ‘IRRATIONAL’ ANIMALS
Introduction 375
Essay 383
Bibliography 400
Textual Appendix 402
Descriptive Index of Proper Names 407
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Greek text used for these translations is that of the Loeb
Classical Library, as follows:
On Listening, How to Distinguish a Flatterer from a Friend and On
Being Aware of Moral Progress, from Plutarch’s Moralia volume i,
by F. C. Babbitt (Loeb Classical Library, London and Cam¬
bridge, Mass., 1927).
Whether Military or Intellectual Exploits Have Brought Athens More
Fame, from Plutarch’s Moralia volume 4, by F. C. Babbitt (Loeb
Classical Library, London and Cambridge, Mass., 1936).
On the Avoidance of Anger and On Contentment, from Plutarch’s
Moralia volume 6, by W. Helmbold (Loeb Classical Library,
London and Cambridge, Mass., 1939).
On God’s Slowness to Punish, On Socrates’ Personal Deity and In
Consolation to His Wife, from Plutarch’s Moralia volume 7, by
P. H. De Lacy and B. Einarson (Loeb Classical Library, London
and Cambridge, Mass., 1959).
On the Use of Reason by ‘Irrational’ Animals, from Plutarch’s
Moralia volume 12, by W. Helmbold (Loeb Classical Library,
London and Cambridge, Mass., 1957).
Any occasions where we have translated Greek text which differs
from that of these Loeb volumes have been noted in the Textual
Appendix (pp. 402—6).
The numbers and letters which appear in the margins of the
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
translations are the standard means of precise reference to passages
of Plutarch’s Moralia: they refer to the pages and sections of
pages of the 1599 Frankfurt edition of Moralia (Greek edited by
Stephanus, or H. Estienne; Latin translation by Xylander, or W.
Holtzman).
The authors take great pleasure in acknowledging the early
generosity of Professor Donald Russell, without which this
volume would have failed to get started; and considerably less
pleasure in acknowledging the collaboration of the National
Health Service and London Transport.