The Wisdom of the Ancient Greeks (Oneworld of Wisdom)

193 Pages·2002·2.45 MB·English

by  Mel Thompson (compiler)

The
Wisdom
of the
ANCIENT GREEKS
TITLES IN THIS SERIES
TheWisdomoftheArabs,ISBN1–85168–283–X
TheWisdomofBuddhism,ISBN1–85168–226–0
TheWisdomoftheConfucians,ISBN1–85168–259–7
TheWisdomofHinduism,ISBN1–85168–227–9
TheWisdomofJesus,ISBN1–85168–225–2
TheWisdomofJudaism,ISBN1–85168–228–7
TheWisdomoftheKabbalah,ISBN1–85168–297–X
TheWisdomoftheQur’an,ISBN1–85168–224–4
TheWisdomofSikhism,ISBN1–85168–280–5
TheWisdomofSufism,ISBN1–85168–260–0
TheWisdomoftheTao,ISBN1–85168–232–5
TheWisdomofZen,ISBN1–85168–281–3
The
Wisdom
of the
ANCIENT GREEKS
Compiled by
Mel Thompson
THEWISDOMOFTHEANCIENTGREEKS
OneworldPublications
(SalesandEditorial)
185BanburyRoad
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©Oneworld2002
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CONTENTS
Preface vii
DatesofKeyWriters xii
WISDOM,PHILOSOPHYANDLEARNING 13
FRIENDSHIP,LOVEANDPASSION 33
MODERATIONANDDILIGENCE 53
COURAGE,FATEANDSUFFERING 81
MORALITY 101
BEAUTY,ARTANDHAPPINESS 125
JUSTICEANDPOLITICS 145
PERCEPTIONSOFREALITY 157
ANDTHEIMMORTALREALM
TRANSLATIONSUSED 190
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 192

PREFACE
I
T IS quite impossible to sum up in a few words the
enormous wealth of epic poetry, drama and philosophy
that has come down to us from Ancient Greece. It has
provided inspiration for both rational thought and artistic
creativity from one generation to the next within Western
culture.
The wisdom of Ancient Greece combined passion, a raw
appreciation of human emotions and the tragedy of a life
driven by them, with the most rigorous and careful analysis of
ideas. Greek drama probed every recess of human frailty,
exposing the agony of self-doubt and the sense of injustice in
the world, and in doing so elevated language as never before.
That wisdom was also the source of science, philosophy,
psychology and politics as we know them today, and the
language in which we explore these subjects depends to a
great extent on Greek terms.
The passages included in this anthology can therefore
represent no more than a personal choice, selected from this
vast literature. Whether poetry, drama or philosophy, they
seek to address the key issues of human life and death, its
meaning and its place within the universe.
vii
Those who explore the art and literature of Ancient Greece
and set them within the context of Western culture, tend to
resort to superlatives, for it is difficult to overestimate the
achievements of that period. Below you will find just a few
such comments, included here to set the context for the
passages of wisdom that follow.
H
E CAME at the end of the creative period in Greek
thought, and after his death it was two thousand years
before the world produced any philosopher who could
be regarded as approximately his equal.
BERTRAND RUSSELLon Aristotle, History of Western Philosophy
T
HESE DIALOGUES are among the world’s great literature. In
addition to containing some of the best philosophy ever
produced they are beautifully written – many language
scholars think they contain the finest of all Greek prose.
BRYAN MAGEE on Plato’s Dialogues, The Story of Philosophy
viii
T
HE ANCIENT philosophers created and laid much of the
groundwork for later philosophical debate in the fields of
ontology, epistemology, logic, ethics and political
philosophy. They also established the crucial features of
philosophical method – open-mindedness about the agenda of
problems, and rational progress through argument and debate.
J. D. G. EVANS, The Oxford Companion to Philosophy
T
HE PERSON of Socrates became, and has remained ever
since, so powerful an icon for the life of moral scrutiny
that it is his name that is used to mark this watershed in
the history of philosophy. In the century or so that followed
his death, many schools looked back to him as the living
embodiment of philosophy and sought the principles of his life
and thought in philosophical theory.
A. J. BAKER, The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
ix