3

Unit 2 introduces us to the rich and innovative culture that was the Greeks. The first known society to inhabit the region of the Aegean Sea was the Minoan based on the isle of Crete. By 1400 BCE this culture was in decline, soon to be replaced by the first culture we think of as truly Greek, the Mycenaean. Utilizing the easily navigable Aegean, the Mycenaeans became traders rather than manufacturers, and we know from extant records they were also a militaristic people organized into tribes who likely fought over trade routes and access to scarce resources. By 1200 BCE Mycenaean society had collapse, ushering in what’s known as the Greek Dark Age. Population decline allowed independent cities to become self-sufficient, giving rise to the polis, or city-state, which was composed of the city itself and the surrounding countryside as well as the inhabitants of both. The polis served as the hub of political, economic, social, and cultural development, and between 750 and 550 BCE many mainland city-states began sending out colonists all over the Mediterranean and Black Seas. These colonists maintained strong ties to their mother city, maintained their Greek language and customs, but were also involved in trade with local populations and therefore learned about other peoples.

The innovation of the polis was followed by military innovation. City-states needed more people involved in the defense of the city, so farmers and artisans with enough resources to provide themselves with weapons and armor were utilized as foot soldiers called hoplites and fought in a new formation called a phalanx. The amount of training and discipline needed to fight effectively as a phalanx put increased value on foot soldiers and less and aristocratic cavalry, which led to calls for more political representation for the infantry, as they felt it was only fair that they received a say in how the polis they trained and fought to defend operated. In some city-states, such as Athens, this led to the development of democracy, as leaders such as Solon and Cleisthenes began expanding who was allowed to participate in politics. In other city-states, such as Sparta, power remained in the hands of the few, though those few were equal in the rights they had.

Athens and Sparta were very different indeed. Athens valued discussion, debate, and welcomed new ideas; Sparta was insular, xenophobic, and centered around stability and order. They were not the only city-states of note, however. In modern day Turkey lied the city-state of Miletus, located on numerous trade routes and subsequently very cosmopolitan. This mixing of different peoples, ideas, and beliefs gave birth to the West’s first philosophers. These men examined the nature of cause and effect and wondered about a rational order that controlled the entire universe. They were the first to view the physical world as a problem to be solved, and used logic in a systematic way to try and provide answers. It was Miletus that led a revolt against the Persian Empire, with assistance from Athens, that sparked an invasion of Greece that was held off by the Athenian victory at Marathon in 490 BCE. Ten years later another Persian invasion was defeated by Spartan and Athenian heroics at battles such as Thermopylae and Salamis.

These victories propelled Athens into its Golden Age. Under the leadership of Pericles democracy was further expanded, although women, slaves, and some foreigners couldn’t participate, a league of Greek city-states was created for mutual defense against any new Persian threats, and Athenian culture reached its apex. However, Athens soon grew tyrannical in its own right, bully and attacking city-states that wished to leave the Delian League when no new Persian threat emerged. Athenian expansionism also worried Sparta, which led its own Greek alliance, until war broke out between the two in 431 BCE. On and off for 27 years the two most powerful Greek city-states battled, until Sparta, with a fleet built for them by Persia, gained the upper hand and defeated Athens in 404 BCE. The war was costly and neither side emerged stronger, in fact they were both weakened and ripe for Philip of Macedon to pick them off.

Much of what we think of when we hear the phrase “ancient Greece” comes from those few decades of Athenian ascendancy. Drama, mostly tragedies, reached its peak with playwrights such as Sophocles. Thucydides improved upon Herodotus’ method of doing history by meticulously combing through sources to include only the most reliable. Philosophy blossomed, and Athens produced a trio of the Western world’s most famous thinkers in Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. These three men laid the foundations for how people thought for hundreds of years and influenced philosophers in dozens of countries. The Peloponnesian War, however, put an end to all of that development, and after the war Philip and Alexander of Macedon moved south and conquered Greece before Alexander launched an invasion of the Persian Empire, kicking off a campaign that would make him one of the most dramatic and famous figures of the ancient world. The empire Alexander left behind upon his death, however, quickly split into different kingdoms, centrally run by monarchs through cities that copied all things Greek. A blending of cultures took place as Greeks lived side-by-side with non-Greeks; as cities as far away as India were planned like Greek cities were planned, built like Greek cities were built, and had features that Greek cities had. Greek language spread throughout the eastern world, and new and exciting religious cults made their way west to Greece. This Hellenistic world would last until a new empire, from Rome, came calling.

The sources for Unit 2 begin with excerpts from one of the most well-known poets in Western history, the poet Sappho. There are three poems included that demonstrate her keen observation of the human condition and ability to express those observations through the written word. The next two sources both deal with Greek politics, more specifically the evolution of democracy in Athens. Source 2 comes directly from one of the three great reformers of Athenian politics, the aristocrat Solon. The excerpts presented come from fragments of poetry written by Solon himself, describing what steps he took to alleviate Athens’ suffering, why he took those steps, and various reactions from the people to his actions. Source 3 is from Aristotle’s work on the Athenian constitution, in which he recounts the history of what both Solon and the second major reformer, Cleisthenes, did to rework Athenian politics as a means of preventing crises from occurring. Sources 4 and 5 take us into the realm of Greek mythology and religion, with Source 4 coming from the Ancient History Encyclopedia entry and Greek mythology. The article presents a fine overview of the evolution of Greek myth-making, the role of myth in ancient Greek life, and what the numerous stories and characters tell us about Greek religion and belief. Source 5 is a collection of three excerpts from different Greek authors, in this case Plutarch, Lysia, and Appolonius Rhodius. Each excerpt gives us a window into what the Greeks believed and what steps they took to practice their faith. The final excerpt also clues us into the relationship humans had with the gods. With Source 6 we return to Greek politics with a funeral speech given by the Athenian leader Pericles and recounted by the historian Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War. The speech is a famous statement of the glories of Athenian democracy and its role in making Athens the preeminent power that it was at the time. In Source 7 we have the first to two texts from the philosopher Plato. The first text is an excerpt from his Republic, a notable passage known as the Allegory of the Cave. The Allegory helps illustrate one of Plato’s most well-known ideas, the Theory of the Forms. Source 8 comes from Plato’s Meno, a conversation between Plato, the title character, and one of Meno’s slave boys. The purpose of the dialogue is to demonstrate Plato’s theory that human beings don’t truly learn anything, we simply remember information our immortal soul already has. Our final three sources all deal with the Hellenistic Age of Greek history, the period after the death of Alexander the Great to the final conquest of Egypt by the Romans. Source 9 comes from the website The Timemap of World History, a combination atlas and encyclopedia with entries on all of human history from around the globe. The article in question is a general description of the Hellenistic world. Covering government, war, religion, philosophy, as well as science and technology, the piece highlights some of the important developments of the Hellenistic Age and compares them to the Classical Age the came before. Soure 10 returns us to philosophy, this time with a look at Stoicism and the philosopher Epictetus. His work excerpted here, The Enchiridion, is a good encapsulation of some of the major themes of Stoic thinking. Finally for Unit 2, Source 11 presents us with excerpts from the philosopher Epicurus, founder of Epicureanism. This letter explains some of the basic beliefs of Epicurus’ philosophy which, though different from Stoicism, nonetheless shares certain ideas with it.

1. Sappho-Poetry Excerpts

The poet Sappho was born on the island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea, where she would grow up to have a family and run a school for unmarried women. Her brilliance as a poet was recognized even in the ancient world, and though her reputation became sullied during the Middle Ages, she is still considered one of the West’s greatest poets. Only fragments of her work survive, but those that do focus more on human love than on gods. Her poetry is personal, emotional, and intense, making it relatable even today.

Poem A

“Sweet Nereids, grant to me
That home unscathed my brother may return,
And every end for which his soul shall yearn,
Accomplished see!

“And thou, immortal Queen,
Blot out the past, that thus his friends may know
Joy, shame his foes—nay, rather, let no one
By us be seen!

“And may he have the will
To me his sister some regard to show,
To assuage the pain he brought, whose cruel blow
My soul did kill,

“Yea, mine, for that ill name
Whose biting edge, to shun the festal throng
Compelling, ceased a while; yet back ere long
To goad us came!”

Poem B

“Splendor-throned Queen, immortal Aphrodite,
Daughter of Jove, Enchantress, I implore thee
Vex not my soul with agonies and anguish;
Slay me not, Goddess!

Come in thy pity—come, if I have prayed thee;
Come at the cry of my sorrow; in the old times
Oft thou hast heard, and left thy father’s heaven,
Left the gold houses,

Yoking thy chariot. Swiftly did the doves fly,
Swiftly they brought thee, waving plumes of wonder—
Waving their dark plumes all across the æther.
All down the azure.

Very soon they lighted. Then didst thou, Divine one,
Laugh a bright laugh from lips and eyes immortal,
Ask me ‘What ailed me—wherefore out of heaven,
Thus I had called thee?

What was it made me madden in my heart so?’
Question me smiling—say to me, ‘My Sappho,
Who is it wrongs thee? Tell me who refuses
Thee, vainly sighing.

Be it who it may be, he that flies shall follow;
He that rejects gifts, he shall bring thee many;
He that hates now shall love thee dearly, madly-
Aye, though thou wouldst not.’

So once again come, Mistress; and, releasing
Me from my sadness, give me what I sue for,
Grant me my prayer, and be as heretofore now
Friend and protectress.”

Poem C

“Peer of gods he seemeth to me, the blissful
Man who sits and gazes at thee before him,
Close beside thee sits, and in silence hears thee
Silverly speaking,

Laughing love’s low laughter. Oh this, this only
Stirs the troubled heart in my breast to tremble!
For should I but see thee a little moment,
Straight is my voice hushed;

Yea, my tongue is broken, and through and through me
‘Neath the flesh impalpable fire runs tingling;
Nothing see mine eyes, and a noise of roaring
Waves in my ear sounds;

Sweat runs down in rivers, a tremor seizes
All my limbs, and paler than grass in autumn.
Caught by pains of menacing death, I falter,
Lost in the love-trance.”

Citation:

Carroll Mitchell, Greek Women In all ages and in all countries (Philadelphia: The Rittenhouse Press, 1907-1908), 116, 121-122. Located on the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.39214/2015.39214.Greek-Women#page/n139/mode/2up

Discussion Questions:

1. What kind of tone or emotion are you getting from the poem to Sappho’s brother?
2. What does Sappho seem to be asking for in her ode to Aphrodite?
3. What is Sappho expressing in her ode to Anactoria?

2. Solon-Poetry Fragments

Solon was an important Athenian statesman given full powers in the early sixth century BCE to reform Athens’ economy and government to avert serious crises. Many notable reforms, while not immediately establishing democracy in and of themselves, nonetheless put Athens on the path to democracy. In the poetry fragments excerpted below Solon explains why he felt Athens was in such dire straits and summarizes the steps he took to solve the city-state’s problems.

Fragment 13

‘‘Out of the cloud come snow and hail in their fury, and the thunderbolt springeth from the lightning’s flash: so from great men ruin issueth upon the state, and the people through their own folly sink into slavery under a single lord. Having raised a man to too high a place, it is not easy later to hold him back: now is the time to be observant of all things.”

“If ye have suffered the melancholy consequences of your own incompetence, do not attribute this evil fortune to the gods. Ye have yourselves raised these men to power over you, and have reduced yourselves by this course to a wretched state of servitude. Each man among you, individually, walketh with the tread of a fox, but collectively ye are a set of simpletons.  For ye look to the tongue and the play of a man’s speech and regard not the deed which is done before your eyes.”

Fragment 12

“The ruin of our state will never come by the doom of Zeus or through the will of the blessed and immortal gods; for Pallas Athena, valiant daughter of a valiant sire, is our stout-hearted guardian, and she holdeth over us her protecting arms. It is the townsfolk themselves and their false-hearted leaders who would fain destroy our great city through wantonness and love of money. But they are destined to suffer sorely for their outrageous behavior. They know not how to hold in check their full-fed lust, or, content with the merriment the banquet affords, to take their pleasure soberly and in order. . . . They are rich because they yield to the temptation of dishonest courses. . . . They spare neither the treasures of the gods nor the property of the state, and steal like brigands one from another. They pay no heed to the unshaken rock of holy Justice, who, though she be silent, is aware of all that happeneth now or hath happened in the past, and, in course of time, surely cometh to demand retribution. Lo, even now there cometh upon the whole city a plague which none may escape. The people have come quickly into degrading bondage; bondage rouseth from their sleep war and civil strife; and war destroyeth many in the beauty of their youth. As if she were the prey of foreign foes, our beloved city is rapidly wasted and consumed in those secret conspiracies which are the delight of dishonest men.”

“These are the evils which stalk at home. Meanwhile the poor and needy in great numbers, are loaded with shameful bonds and sold into slavery in foreign lands. . . . Thus public calamity cometh to the house of every individual, and a man is no longer safe within the gates of his own court, which refuse him their protection. It leapeth over the garden wall, however high it be, and surely findeth him out, though he run and hide himself in the inmost corner of his chamber.”

“These things my heart prompteth me to teach the Athenians, and to make them understand that lawlessness worketh more harm to the state than any other cause. But a law-abiding spirit createth order and harmony, and at the same time putteth chains upon evil-doers; it maketh rough things smooth, it checketh inordinate desires, it dimmeth the glare of wanton pride and withereth the budding bloom of wild delusion; it maketh crooked judgments straight and softeneth arrogant behavior ; it stoppeth acts of sedition and stoppeth the anger of bitter strife. Under the reign of law, sanity and wisdom prevail ever among men.”

Fragment 9

“I removed the stones of her bondage which had been planted everywhere, and she who was a slave before is now free. I brought back to their own divinely founded home many Athenians who justly or unjustly had been sold into slavery in foreign lands, and I brought back those whom destitution had driven into exile, and who, through wandering long abroad, no longer spoke the Attic tongue; and I restored to liberty those who had been degraded to slavery here in their own land and trembled at their masters’ whims. These things I accomplished through arbitrary action, bringing force to the support of the dictates of justice, and I followed through to the end the course which I promised. On the other hand, I drafted laws, which show equal consideration for the upper and lower classes, and provide a fair administration of justice for every individual. An unscrupulous and avaricious man, if he had got the whip hand of the city as I had, would not have held the people back. If I had adopted the policy which was advocated by my opponents then, or if thereafter I had consented to the treatment which their opponents were always planning for them, this city would have lost many of her sons. This was the reason why I stood out like a wolf at bay amidst a pack of hounds, defending myself against attacks from every side.”

Fragment 10

‘‘The common people (if I must give public utterance to my rebuke) would never have beheld even in their dreams the blessings which they now enjoy. . . . All the stronger and more powerful men in the city would sing my praises and seek to make me their friend.”

Fragment 6

“To the common people I have given such a measure of privilege as sufficeth them, neither robbing them of the rights they had, nor holding out the hope of greater ones; and I have taken equal thought for those who were possessed of power and who were looked up to because of their wealth, careful that they, too, should suffer no indignity. I have taken a stand which enables me to hold a stout shield over both groups, and I have allowed neither to triumph unjustly over the other.”

Fragment 7

“The populace will follow its leaders best if it is neither left too free nor subjected to too much restraint. For excess giveth birth to arrogance, when great prosperity attendeth upon men whose minds lack sober judgment.”

Citation:

Ivan M. Linforth, Solon the Athenian (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1919), 135, 137-139, 141-143, 145. Located at the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.167058/2015.167058.Solon-The-Athenian#page/n151/mode/2up

Discussion Questions:

1. From fragment 13 and 12, what does Solon say will lead to the destruction of the state, and how will this happen?
2. From fragment 12 what does Solon argue is the remedy to the above ills?
3. In fragment 9 what did Solon do to alleviate some of Athens’ problems, and why does he say he “stood out like a wolf at bay amidst a pack of hounds”?
4. In fragment 6 how does Solon record that he treated the rich and poor?
5. In the final fragment how does Solon believe leaders should lead their people?

3. Aristotle-The Athenian Constitution

Aristotle is one of the most well-known philosophers of ancient Greece. A prolific thinker and writer, he produced works on a range of topics including ethics, metaphysics, the parts of the soul, and politics, in addition to numerous others. So broad was the array of subjects Aristotle discussed that during the Middle Ages thinkers referred to him as “The Philosopher.” The excerpt included here comes from The Athenian Constitution, in which Aristotle discusses the changes made to Athens’ politics and political culture by Solon and later by Cleisthenes, who established important democratic features that would aid in his city-state’s rise to prominence in Greece.

Next Solon drew up a constitution and enacted new laws; and the statutes of Draco ceased to be used with the exception of those relating to murder.  The laws were inscribed on the pillars, and set up in the King’s Porch, and all swore to obey them; and the nine Archons made oath upon the stone and declared that they would dedicate a golden statue if they should transgress any of them. This is the origin of the oath to that effect which they take to the present day. Solon ratified his laws for a hundred years; and the following was the fashion of his organization of the constitution. He made a division of all rateable property into four classes, just as it had been divided before, namely, Pentacosiomedimni, Knights, Zeugitae, and Thete. The various magistracies, namely, the nine Archons, the Treasurers, the Commissioners for Public Contracts, the Eleven, and the Exchequer Clerks he assigned to the Pentacosiomedimni, the Knights, and the Zeugitae, giving offices to each class in proportion to the value of their rateable property. To those who ranked among the Thetes he gave nothing but a place in the Assembly and in the juries. A man had to rank as a Pentacosiomedimnus if he made, from his own land, five hundred measures, whether liquid or solid. Those ranked as Knights who made three hundred measures, or, as some say, those who were able to maintain a horse. In support of the latter definition they adduce the name of the class, which may be supposed to be derived from this fact, and also some votive offerings of early times; for in the Acropolis there is a votive offering, a statue of Diphilus, bearing this inscription:

The son of Diphilus, Anthemion hight,

Raised from the Thetes and become a Knight,

Did to the gods this sculptured charger bring,

For his promotion a thank-offering.

And a horse stands beside the man, which seems to show that this was what was meant by belonging to the rank of Knight. At the same time it seems more reasonable to suppose that this class, like the Pentacosiomedinmi, was defined by the possession of an income of a certain number of measures. Those ranked as Zeugitae who made two hundred measures, liquid or solid; and the rest ranked as Thetes, and were not eligible for any office. Hence it is that even at the present day, when a candidate for any office is asked to what rank he belongs, no one would think of saying that he belonged to the Thetes.

The elections to the various offices Solon enacted should be by lot, out of candidates selected by each of the tribes. Each tribe selected ten candidates for the nine archonships, and among these the lot was cast. Hence it is still the custom for each tribe to choose ten candidates by lot, and then the lot is again cast among these. A proof that Solon regulated the elections to office according to the property classes may be found in the law which is still in force for the election of the Treasurers, which enacts that they shall be chosen from the Pentacosiomedimni.  Such was Solon’s legislation with respect to the nine Archons; whereas in early times the Council of Areopagus summoned suitable persons according to its own judgment and appointed them for the year to the several offices.

Solon also appointed a Council of four hundred, a hundred from each tribe; but he still assigned to the Areopagus the duty of superintending the laws. It continued, as before, to be the guardian of the constitution in general; it kept watch over the citizens in all the most important matters, and corrected offenders, having full powers to inflict either fines or personal punishment. The money received in fines it brought up into the Acropolis, without assigning the reason for the punishment; and Solon also gave it the power to try those who conspired for the overthrow of the state.

Such, then, was his legislation concerning the magistrates of the state. There are three points in the constitution of Solon which appear to be its most democratic features: first and most important, the prohibition of loans on the security of the debtor’s person; secondly, the right of every person who so willed to bring an action on behalf of anyone to whom wrong was being done; thirdly, the institution of the appeal to the law-courts; and it is by means of this last, they say, that the masses have gained strength most of all, since, when the democracy is master of the voting-power, it is master of the constitution.  Moreover, since the laws were not drawn up in simple and explicit terms (but like the one concerning inheritances and wards of state), disputes inevitably occurred, and the courts had to decide in every matter, whether public or private. Some persons in fact believe that Solon deliberately made the laws indefinite, in order that the people might have something left to its final decision. This, however, is not at all probable, and the reason no doubt was that it was impossible to attain ideal perfection when framing a law in general terms; for we must judge of his intentions, not from the actual results in the present day, but from the general tenor of the rest of his legislation.

The people, therefore, had good reason to place confidence in Cleisthenes. Accordingly when, at this time, he found himself at the head of the masses, three years after the expulsion of the tyrants, in the archonship of Isagoras, his first step was to distribute the whole population into ten tribes in place of the existing four, with the object of intermixing the members of the different tribes, so that more persons might have a share in the franchise.

Next he made the Council to consist of five hundred members instead of four hundred, each tribe now contributing fifty, whereas formerly each had sent a hundred.

Further, he divided the country by demes into thirty parts, ten from the districts about the city, ten from the coast, and ten from the interior. These he called Trittyes; and he assigned three of them by lot to each tribe, in such a way that each should have one portion in each of these three divisions.  All who lived in any given deme he declared fellow-demesmen, to the end that the new citizens might not be exposed by the habitual use of family names, but that men might be known by the names of their demes; and accordingly it is by the names of their demes that the Athenians still speak of one another. He also instituted Demarchs, who had the same duties as the previously existing Naucrari,—the demes being made to take the place of the naucraries. He gave names to the demes, some from the localities to which they belonged, some from the persons who founded them, since some of them no longer corresponded to localities possessing names. On the other hand he allowed everyone to retain his family and clan and religious rites according to ancestral custom.  The names given to the tribes were the ten which the Pythia appointed out of the hundred selected national heroes.

Citation:

F. G. Kenyon, trans., Aristotle on the Athenian Constitution (London: George Bell and Sons, 1891), 10-15, 37-39. Located on the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/stream/aristotleonathen00arisrich#page/10/mode/2up

Discussion Questions:

1. What qualified someone to be in the different social categories created by Solon?
2. What responsibilities did Solon give to the body called the Areopagus?
3. What were the three most democratic parts of Solon’s reform?
4. What reforms did Cleisthenes make to the organization of Athenian society?

4. Ancient History Encyclopedia-Greek Mythology

The following article comes from the Ancient History Encyclopedia. Author Mark Cartwright, the Publishing Direct of the Ancient History Encyclopedia, presents a broad overview of Greek mythology and what role it played in helping the Greeks understand the world around them.

https://www.ancient.eu/Greek_Mythology/

Discussion Questions:

1. Describe the evolution of how mythical stories were told in ancient Greece.
2. In what ways do Greek myths explain various elements of human life?
3. What purpose did Heroes serve in Greek mythology?
4. What role did monsters serve in Greek mythology?

5. Various Authors-Greek Religious Beliefs

The excerpts below come from three different sources-Plutarch, Lysias, and Appolonius Rhodius. Each excerpt reveals a different aspect of Greek belief and how Greeks went about practicing their faith.

Plutarch’s Life of Aristides:

These things being ratified, the Plataeans undertook the performance of annual sacrifice to such as were slain and buried in that place; which they still perform in the following manner. On the sixteenth day of Maimacterion (which with the Boeotians is Alalcomenus) they make their procession, which, beginning by break of day, is led by a trumpeter sounding for onset; then follow certain chariots loaded with myrrh and garlands; and then a black bull; then come the young men of free birth carrying libations of wine and milk in large two-handed vessels, and jars of oil and precious ointments, none of servile condition being permitted to have any hand in this ministration, because the men died in defense of freedom; after all comes the chief magistrate of Plataea, (for whom it is unlawful at other times either to touch iron, or wear any other colored garment but white,) at that time appareled in a purple robe; and, taking a water-pot out of the city record-office, he proceeds, bearing a sword in his hand, through the middle of the town to the sepulchers. Then draining water out of a spring, he washes and anoints the monuments, and sacrificing the bull upon a pile of wood, and making supplication to Jupiter and Mercury of the earth, invites those valiant men who perished in the defense of Greece, to the banquet and the libations of blood. After this, mixing a bowl of wine, and pouring out for himself, he says, “I drink to those who lost their lives for the liberty of Greece.” These solemnities the Plataeans observe to this day.

Lysias-Against Nichomachus:

I am informed that he alleges that I am guilty of impiety in seeking to abolish the sacrifices. But if it were I who were law-making over this transcription of our code, I should take it to be open to Nicomachus to make such a statement about me. But in fact I am merely claiming that he should obey the code established and patent to all; and I am surprised at his not observing that, when he taxes me with impiety for saying that we ought to perform the sacrifices named in the tablets and pillars as directed in the regulations, he is accusing the city as well: for they are what you have decreed. And then, sir, if you feel these to be hard words, surely you must attribute grievous guilt to those citizens who used to sacrifice solely in accordance with the tablets. But of course, gentlemen of the jury, we are not to be instructed in piety by Nicomachus, but are rather to be guided by the ways of the past. Now our ancestors, by sacrificing in accordance with the tablets, have handed down to us a city superior in greatness and prosperity to any other in Greece; so that it behooves us to perform the same sacrifices as they did, if for no other reason than that of the success which has resulted from those rites. And how could a man show greater piety than mine, when I demand, first that our sacrifices be performed according to our ancestral rules, and second that they be those which tend to promote the interests of the city, and finally those which the people have decreed and which we shall be able to afford out of the public revenue? But you, Nicomachus, have done the opposite of this: by entering in your copy a greater number than had been ordained you have caused the public revenue to be expended on these, and hence to be deficient for our ancestral offerings.

Appolonius Rhodius-The Argonautica:

After this, fierce tempests arose for twelve days and nights together and kept them there from sailing. But in the next night the rest of the chieftains, overcome by sleep, were resting during the latest period of the night, while Acastus and Mopsus the son of Ampycus kept guard over their deep slumbers. And above the golden head of Aeson’s son there hovered a halcyon prophesying with shrill voice the ceasing of the stormy winds; and Mopsus heard and understood the cry of the bird of the shore, fraught with good omen. And some god made it turn aside, and flying aloft it settled upon the stern-ornament of the ship. And the seer touched Jason as he lay wrapped in soft sheepskins and woke him at once, and thus spoke: “Son of Aeson, thou must climb to this temple on rugged Dindymum and propitiate the mother of all the blessed gods on her fair throne, and the stormy blasts shall cease. For such was the voice I heard but now from the halcyon, bird of the sea, which, as as it flew above thee in thy slumber, told me all. For by her power the winds and the sea and all the earth below and the snowy seat of Olympus are complete; and to her, when from the mountains she ascends the mighty heaven, Zeus himself, the son of Cronos, gives place. In like manner the rest of the immortal blessed ones reverence the dread goddess.”

Thus he spoke, and his words were welcome to Jason’s ear. And he arose from his bed with joy and woke all his comrades hurriedly and told them the prophecy of Mopsus the son of Ampycus. And quickly the younger men drove oxen from their stalls and began to lead them to the mountain’s lofty summit. And they loosed the hawsers from the sacred rock and rowed to the Thracian harbor; and the heroes climbed the mountain, leaving a few of their comrades in the ship. And to them the Macrian heights and all the coast of Thrace opposite appeared to view close at hand. And there appeared the misty mouth of Bosporus and the Mysian hills; and on the other side the stream of the river Aesepus and the city and Nepeian plain of Adrasteia. Now there was a sturdy stump of vine that grew in the forest, a tree exceeding old; this they cut down, to be the sacred image of the mountain goddess; and Argus smoothed it skillfully, and they set it upon that rugged hill beneath a canopy of lofty oaks, which of all trees have their roots deepest. And near it they heaped an altar of small stones, and wreathed their brows with oak leaves and paid heed to sacrifice, invoking the mother of Dindymum, most venerable, dweller in Phrygia, and Titias and Cyllenus, who alone of many are called dispensers of doom and assessors of the Idaean mother, — the Idaean Dactyls of Crete, whom once the nymph Anchiale, as she grasped with both hands the land of Oaxus, bare in the Dictaean cave. And with many prayers did Aeson’s son beseech the goddess to turn aside the stormy blasts as he poured libations on the blazing sacrifice; and at the same time by command of Orpheus the youths trod a measure dancing in full armor, and clashed with their swords on their shields, so that the ill-omened cry might be lost in the air — the wail which the people were still sending up in grief for their king. Hence from that time forward the Phrygians propitiate Rhea with the wheel and the drum. And the gracious goddess, I ween, inclined her heart to pious sacrifices; and favorable signs appeared. The trees shed abundant fruit, and round their feet the earth of its own accord put forth flowers from the tender grass. And the beasts of the wild wood left their lairs and thickets and came up fawning on them with their tails. And she caused yet another marvel; for hitherto there was no flow of water on Dindymum, but then for them an unceasing stream gushed forth from the thirsty peak just as it was, and the dwellers around in after times called that stream, the spring of Jason. And then they made a feast in honor of the goddess on the Mount of Bears, singing the praises of Rhea most venerable; but at dawn the winds had ceased and they rowed away from the island.

Citations:

A.H. Clough, Plutarch’s Lives: The Translation called Dryden’s, vol. 1 (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1895), 307-308. Located on the Internet Archive:  https://archive.org/details/plutarchslives05drydgoog/page/n316

W.R.M. Lamb, trans., Lysias (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1930), 621-623. Located on the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/lysiaslamb00lysiuoft/page/620

R.C. Seaton, trans., Appolonius Rhodius The Argonautica (London: William Heinemann, 1912), 77-81. Located on the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/76

Discussion Questions:

1. What do we learn about Greek religion from the procession put on by the Plataeans?
2. What argument is Lysias making about sacrifices?
3. What does the selection from the Argonautica tell us about Greek religious beliefs and practices?

6. Thucydides-Pericles’ Funeral Oration

Pericles is one of the most famous Athenian statesmen, leading the city-state in the late fifth century BCE. Under his leadership democracy continued to expand, and Athens enjoyed such military, political, and economic power that many historians have since labeled this phase of Athenian history as “The Age of Pericles.” However, he also saw Athens enter into the devastating war against the other power in Greece, Sparta. The excerpt below is from a funeral speech Pericles gave honoring the Athenian soldiers killed in the initial battles of that war, and explaining what he believed were the characteristics that made Athens the preeminent city-state in Greece.

Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition. The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbour for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty. But all this ease in our private relations does not make us lawless as citizens. Against this fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws, particularly such as regard the protection of the injured, whether they are actually on the statute book, or belong to that code which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.

Further, we provide plenty of means for the mind to refresh itself from business. We celebrate games and sacrifices all the year round, and the elegance of our private establishments forms a daily source of pleasure and helps to banish the spleen; while the magnitude of our city draws the produce of the world into our harbour, so that to the Athenian the fruits of other countries are as familiar a luxury as those of his own.

If we turn to our military policy, there also we differ from our antagonists. We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality; trusting less in system and policy than to the native spirit of our citizens; while in education, where our rivals from their very cradles by a painful discipline seek after manliness, at Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger. In proof of this it may be noticed that the Lacedaemonians do not invade our country alone, but bring with them all their confederates; while we Athenians advance unsupported into the territory of a neighbour, and fighting upon a foreign soil usually vanquish with ease men who are defending their homes. Our united force was never yet encountered by any enemy, because we have at once to attend to our marine and to dispatch our citizens by land upon a hundred different services; so that, wherever they engage with some such fraction of our strength, a success against a detachment is magnified into a victory over the nation, and a defeat into a reverse suffered at the hands of our entire people. And yet if with habits not of labour but of ease, and courage not of art but of nature, we are still willing to encounter danger, we have the double advantage of escaping the experience of hardships in anticipation and of facing them in the hour of need as fearlessly as those who are never free from them.

Nor are these the only points in which our city is worthy of admiration. We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it. Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot originate, and, instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all. Again, in our enterprises we present the singular spectacle of daring and deliberation, each carried to its highest point, and both united in the same persons; although usually decision is the fruit of ignorance, hesitation of reflection. But the palm of courage will surely be adjudged most justly to those, who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger. In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving, favours. Yet, of course, the doer of the favour is the firmer friend of the two, in order by continued kindness to keep the recipient in his debt; while the debtor feels less keenly from the very consciousness that the return he makes will be a payment, not a free gift. And it is only the Athenians, who, fearless of consequences, confer their benefits not from calculations of expediency, but in the confidence of liberality.

In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas, while I doubt if the world can produce a man who, where he has only himself to depend upon, is equal to so many emergencies, and graced by so happy a versatility, as the Athenian. And that this is no mere boast thrown out for the occasion, but plain matter of fact, the power of the state acquired by these habits proves. For Athens alone of her contemporaries is found when tested to be greater than her reputation, and alone gives no occasion to her assailants to blush at the antagonist by whom they have been worsted, or to her subjects to question her title by merit to rule. Rather, the admiration of the present and succeeding ages will be ours, since we have not left our power without witness, but have shown it by mighty proofs; and far from needing a Homer for our panegyrist, or other of his craft whose verses might charm for the moment only for the impression which they gave to melt at the touch of fact, we have forced every sea and land to be the highway of our daring, and everywhere, whether for evil or for good, have left imperishable monuments behind us. Such is the Athens for which these men, in the assertion of their resolve not to lose her, nobly fought and died; and well may every one of their survivors be ready to suffer in her cause.

Indeed if I have dwelt at some length upon the character of our country, it has been to show that our stake in the struggle is not the same as theirs who have no such blessings to lose, and also that the panegyric of the men over whom I am now speaking might be by definite proofs established. That panegyric is now in a great measure complete; for the Athens that I have celebrated is only what the heroism of these and their like have made her, men whose fame, unlike that of most Hellenes, will be found to be only commensurate with their deserts. And if a test of worth be wanted, it is to be found in their closing scene, and this not only in cases in which it set the final seal upon their merit, but also in those in which it gave the first intimation of their having any. For there is justice in the claim that steadfastness in his country’s battles should be as a cloak to cover a man’s other imperfections; since the good action has blotted out the bad, and his merit as a citizen more than outweighed his demerits as an individual. But none of these allowed either wealth with its prospect of future enjoyment to unnerve his spirit, or poverty with its hope of a day of freedom and riches to tempt him to shrink from danger. No, holding that vengeance upon their enemies was more to be desired than any personal blessings, and reckoning this to be the most glorious of hazards, they joyfully determined to accept the risk, to make sure of their vengeance, and to let their wishes wait; and while committing to hope the uncertainty of final success, in the business before them they thought fit to act boldly and trust in themselves. Thus choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled only from dishonour, but met danger face to face, and after one brief moment, while at the summit of their fortune, escaped, not from their fear, but from their glory.”

Citation:

Richard Crawley, trans., The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, Inc., 1950), 123-127. Located on the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/stream/historyofpelopon007233mbp#page/n137

Discussion Questions:

1. What was the occasion for this speech by Pericles?
2. What are the benefits of Athens’ “constitution” according to Pericles?
3. What aspects of Athenian social life are highlighted in this speech?
4. What does Pericles say about Athens’ “military policy”?
5. Why did Pericles spend so much time speaking of the brilliance of Athens?

7. Plato-Allegory of the Cave

Perhaps his most notable work, Plato’s Republic is concerned with justice and which form of government would be the most just. We see the character of Socrates engaging in a dialogue with other characters, posing questions and critiquing ideas, as a means of getting them to understand the weaknesses of their suggestions and the strengths of his. A well-known section of the Republic, excerpted below, is the allegory of the cave, in which Socrates and the others discuss a fictional situation of people being trapped in, and then removed from, a large cavern. The purpose of this document is to show not just how Socratic dialogue works, as the, but to highlight Plato’s own ideals about education and knowledge, specifically the famous realm of the Forms. Note: Paragraphs that have an “S” in front of them denote that Socrates is speaking.

S. Next, said I, here is a parable to illustrate the degrees in which our nature may be enlightened or unenlightened. Imagine the condition of men living in a sort of cavernous chamber underground, with an entrance open to the light and a long passage all down the cave. Here they have been from childhood, chained by the leg and also by the neck, so that they cannot move and can see only what is in front of them, because the chains will not let them turn their heads. At some distance higher up is the light of a fire burning behind them; and between the prisoners and the fire is a track with a parapet built along it, like the screen at a puppet-show, which hides the performers while they show their puppets over the top.

I see, said he.

S. Now behind this parapet imagine persons carrying along various artificial objects, including figures of men and animals in wood or stone or other materials, which project above the parapet. Naturally, some of these persons will be talking, others silent.

It is a strange picture, he said, and a strange sort of prisoners.

S. Like ourselves, I replied; for in the first place prisoners so confined would have seen nothing of themselves or of one another, except the shadows thrown by the fire-light on the wall of the Cave facing them, would they?

Not if all their lives they had been prevented from moving their heads.

S. And they would have seen as little of the objects carried past.

Of course.

S. Now, if they could talk to one another, would they not suppose that their words referred only to those passing shadows which they saw

Necessarily.

S. And suppose their prison had an echo from the wall facing them? When one of the people crossing behind them spoke, they could only suppose that the sound came from the shadow passing before their eyes.

No doubt.

S. In every way, then, such prisoners would recognize as reality nothing but the shadows of those artificial objects.

Inevitably.

S. Now consider what would happen if their release from the chains and the healing of their unwisdom should come about in this way. Suppose one of them was set free and forced suddenly to stand up, turn his head, and walk with eyes lifted to the light; all these movements would be painful, and he would be too dazzled to make out the objects whose shadows he had been used to see. What do you think he would say, if someone told him that what he had formerly seen was meaningless illusion, but now, being somewhat nearer to reality and turned towards more real objects, he was getting a truer view? Suppose further that he were shown the various objects being carried by and were made to say, in reply to questions, what each of them was. Would he not be perplexed and believe the objects now shown him to be not so real as what he formerly saw?

Yes, not nearly so real.

S. And if he were forced to look at the fire-light itself, would not his eyes ache, so that he would try to escape and turn back to the things which he could see distinctly, convinced that they really were clearer than these other objects now being shown to him?

Yes.

S. And suppose someone were to drag him away forcibly up the steep and rugged ascent and not let him go until he had hauled him out into the sunlight, would he not suffer pain and vexation at such treatment, and, when he had come out into the light, find his eyes so full of its radiance that he could not see a single one of the things that he was now told were real?

Certainly he would not see them all at once.

S. He would need, then, to grow accustomed before he could see things in that upper world. At first it would be easiest to make out shadows, and then the images of men and things reflected in water, and later on the things themselves. After that, it would be easier to watch the heavenly bodies and the sky itself by night, looking at the light of the moon and stars rather than the Sun and the Sun’s light in the day-time.

Yes, surely.

S. Last of all, he would be able to look at the Sun and contemplate its nature, not as it appears when reflected in water or any alien medium, but as it is in itself in its own domain.

No doubt.

S. And now he would begin to draw the conclusion that it is the Sun that produces the seasons and the course of the year and controls everything in the visible world, and moreover is in a way the cause of all that he and his companions used to see.

Clearly he would come at last to that conclusion.

S. Then if he called to mind his fellow prisoners and what passed for wisdom in his former dwelling-place, he would surely think himself happy in the change and be sorry for them. They may have had a practice of honoring and commending one another, with prizes for the man who had the keenest eye for the passing shadows and the best memory for the order in which they followed or accompanied one another, so that he could make a good guess as to which was going to come next. Would our released prisoner be likely to covet those prizes or to envy the men exalted to honor and power in the Cave? Would he not feel like Homer’s Achilles, that he would far sooner ‘be on earth as a hired servant in the house of a landless man’ or endure anything rather than go back to his old beliefs and live in the old way?

Yes, he would prefer any fate to such a life.

S. Now imagine what would happen if he went down again to take his former seat in the Cave. Coming suddenly out of the sunlight, his eyes would be filled with darkness. He might be required once more to deliver his opinion on those shadows, in competition with the prisoners who had never been released, while his eyesight was still dim and unsteady; and it might take some time to become used to the darkness. They would laugh at him and say that he had gone up only to come back with his sight ruined; it was worth no one’s while even to attempt the ascent. If they could lay hands on the man who was trying to set them free and lead them up they would kill him.

Yes, they would.

Citation:

Francis MacDonald Cornford, trans. The Republic of Plato (Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1941), 222-226. Located on the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.149151/page/n237

Discussion Questions:

1. Describe the cave Plato talks about.
2. What do the people trapped in the cave believe reality to be?
3. What initially happens if a prisoner is unchained and dragged from the cave?
4. Once the prisoner becomes accustomed to the light, how do they feel about their former imprisonment?
5. What happens when the prisoner returns to the others in the cave?

8. Plato-The Meno

Excerpted below, Plato’s Meno is another dialogue that helps us to unlock Plato’s views about reality, how truth is constructed, and how people know information. The work deals with the idea of virtue and what it is. In the specific selection below the dialogue begins with the title character Meno asking an important question about learning, a question that will become known as Meno’s paradox.  Socrates makes yet another appearance as Plato’s main character, and he employs the help of a slave boy and a series of geometry questions to try and solve the paradox, thus illuminating Plato’s ideas about knowledge and its relation to the soul.  While reading this excerpt keep in mind the previous selection, the allegory of the cave, and think about how the two can be combined to give us a fuller picture of Plato’s views.

Meno- And how will you enquire, Socrates, into that which you do not know? What will you put forth as the subject of enquiry? And if you find what you want, how will you ever know that this is the thing which you did not know?

Socrates- I know, Meno, what you mean; but just see what a tiresome dispute you are introducing. You argue that a man cannot enquire either about that which he knows, or about that which he does not know; for if he knows, he has no need to enquire; and if not, he cannot ; for he does not know the very subject about which he is to enquire.

Meno- Well, Socrates, and is not the argument sound?

Socrates- I think not.

Meno- Why not?

Socrates- I will tell you why: I have heard from certain wise men and women who spoke of things divine that —

Meno- What did they say?

Socrates-They spoke of a glorious truth, as I conceive.

Meno-What was it? And who were they?

Socrates-Some of them were priests and priestesses, who had studied how they might be able to give a reason of their profession:  there have been poets also, who spoke of these things by inspiration, like Pindar, and many others who were inspired. And they say —mark, now, and see whether their words are true —they say that the soul of man is immortal, and at one time has an end, which is termed dying, and at another time is born again, but is never destroyed. And the moral is, that a man ought to live always in perfect holiness.  ‘For in the ninth year Persephone sends the souls of those from whom she has received the penalty of ancient crime back again from beneath into the light of the sun above, and these are they who become noble kings and mighty men and great in wisdom and are called saintly heroes in after ages.’ The soul, then, as being immortal, and having been born again many times, and having seen all things that exist, whether in this world or in the world below, has knowledge of them all; and it is no wonder that she should be able to call to remembrance all that she ever knew about virtue, and about everything; for as all nature is akin, and the soul has learned all things, there is no difficulty in her eliciting or as men say learning, out of a single recollection all the rest, if a man is strenuous and does not faint; for all enquiry and all learning is but recollection. And therefore we ought not to listen to this sophistical argument about the impossibility of enquiry: for it will make us idle, and is sweet only to the sluggard; but the other saying will make us active and inquisitive. In that confiding, I will gladly enquire with you into the nature of virtue.

Meno-Yes, Socrates; but what do you mean by saying that we do not learn, and that what we call learning is only a process of recollection? Can you teach me how this is?

Socrates-I told you, Meno, just now that you were a rogue, and now you ask whether I can teach you, when I am saying that there is no teaching, but only recollection ; and thus you imagine that you will involve me in a contradiction.

Meno-Indeed, Socrates, I protest that I had no such intention. I only asked the question from habit; but if you can prove to me that what you say is true, I wish that you would.

Socrates- It will be no easy matter, but I will try to please a Greek you to the utmost of my power. Suppose that you call one of your numerous attendants, that I may demonstrate on him.

Meno- Certainly. Come hither, boy.

Socrates- He is Greek, and speaks Greek, does he not?

Meno- Yes, indeed; he was born in the house.

Socrates- Attend now to the questions which I ask him, and observe whether he learns of me or only remembers.

Meno-I will.

Socrates- Tell me, boy, do you know that a figure like this is a square?

Boy- I do.

Socrates- And you know that a square figure has these four lines equal?

Boy- Certainly.

Socrates- And these lines which I have drawn through the middle of the square are also equal?

Boy-Yes.

Socrates- A square may be of any size?

Boy- Certainly.

Socrates- And if one side of the figure be of two feet, and the other side be of two feet, how much will the whole be? Let me explain: if in one direction the space was of two feet, and in the other direction of one foot, the whole would be of two feet taken once?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- But since this side is also of two feet, there are twice two feet?

Boy- There are.  Socrates- Then the square is of twice two feet?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- And how many are twice two feet? count and tell me.

Boy- Four, Socrates.

Socrates- And might there not be another square twice as large as this, and having like this the lines equal?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- And of how many feet will that be?

Boy- Of eight feet.

Socrates- And now try and tell me the length of the line which forms the side of that double square: this is two feet – what will that be?

Boy- Clearly, Socrates, it will be double.

Socrates- Do you observe, Meno, that I am not teaching the boy anything, but only asking him questions; and now he fancies that he knows how long a line is necessary in order to produce a figure of eight square feet; does he not?

Meno- Yes.

Socrates- And does he really know?

Meno- Certainly not.

Socrates- He only guesses that because the square is double, the line is double.

Meno- True.

Socrates- Observe him while he recalls the steps in regular order. [To the Boy.) Tell me, boy, do you assert that a double space comes from a double line? Remember that I am not speaking of an oblong, but of a figure equal every way, and twice the size of this – that is to say of eight feet; and I want to know whether you still say that a double square comes from a double line?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- But does not this line become doubled if we add another such line here?

Boy- Certainly.

Socrates- And four such lines will make a space containing eight feet?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- Let us describe such a figure: Would you not say that this is the figure of eight feet?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- And are there not these four divisions in the figure, each of which is equal to the figure of four feet?

Boy- True.

Socrates- And is not that four times four?

Boy- Certainly.

Socrates- And four times is not double?

Boy- No, indeed.

Socrates- But how much?

Boy- Four times as much.

Socrates- Therefore the double line, boy, has given a space, not twice, but four times as much.

Boy- True.

Socrates- Four times four are sixteen – are they not?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- What line would give you a space of eight feet, as this gives one of sixteen feet; – do you see?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- And the space of four feet is made from this half line?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- Good; and is not a space of eight feet twice the size of this, and half the size of the other?

Boy- Certainly.

Socrates- Such a space, then, will be made out of a line greater than this one, and less than that one?

Boy- Yes; I think so.

Socrates- Very good; I like to hear you say what you think. And now tell me, is not this a line of two feet and that of four?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- Then the line which forms the side of eight feet ought to be more than this line of two feet, and less than the other of four feet?

Boy- It ought.

Socrates- Try and see if you can tell me how much it will be.

Boy- Three feet.

Socrates- Then if we add a half to this line of two, that will be the line of three. Here are two and there is one; and on the other side, here are two also and there is one: and that makes the figure of which you speak?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- But if there are three feet this way and three feet that way, the whole space will be three times three feet?

Boy- That is evident.

Socrates- And how much are three times three feet?

Boy- Nine.

Socrates- And how much is the double of four?

Boy- Eight.

Socrates- Then the figure of eight is not made out of a line of three?

Boy- No.

Socrates- But from what line? – tell me exactly; and if you would rather not reckon, try and show me the line.

Boy- Indeed, Socrates, I do not know.

Socrates- Do you see, Meno, what advances he has made in his power of recollection? He did not know at first, and he does not know now, what is the side of a figure of eight feet: but then he thought that he knew, and answered confidently as if he knew, and had no difficulty; now he has a difficulty, and neither knows nor fancies that he knows.

Meno- True.

Socrates- Is he not better off in knowing his ignorance?

Meno- I think that he is.

Socrates- If we have made him doubt, and given him the ‘torpedo’s shock,’ have we done him any harm?

Meno- I think not.

Socrates- We have certainly, as would seem, assisted him in some degree to the discovery of the truth; and now he will wish to remedy his ignorance, but then he would have been ready to tell all the world again and again that the double space should have a double side.

Meno- True.

Socrates- But do you suppose that he would ever have enquired into or learned what he fancied that he knew, though he was really ignorant of it, until he had fallen into perplexity under the idea that he did not know, and had desired to know?

Meno- I think not, Socrates.

Socrates- Then he was the better for the torpedo’s touch?

Meno- I think so.

Socrates- Mark now the farther development. I shall only ask him, and not teach him, and he shall share the enquiry with me: and do you watch and see if you find me telling or explaining anything to him, instead of eliciting his opinion. Tell me, boy, is not this a square of four feet which I have drawn?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- And now I add another square equal to the former one?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- And a third, which is equal to either of them?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- Suppose that we fill up the vacant corner?

Boy- Very good.

Socrates- Here, then, there are four equal spaces?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- And how many times larger is this space than this other?

Boy- Four times.

Socrates- But it ought to have been twice only, as you will remember.

Boy- True.

Socrates- And does not this line, reaching from corner to corner, bisect each of these spaces?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- And are there not here four equal lines which contain this space?

Boy- There are.

Socrates- Look and see how much this space is.

Boy- I do not understand.

Socrates- Has not each interior line cut off half of the four spaces?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- And how many such spaces are there in this section?

Boy- Four.

Socrates- And how many in this?

Boy- Two.

Socrates- And four is how many times two?

Boy- Twice.

Socrates- And this space is of how many feet?

Boy- Of eight feet.

Socrates- And from what line do you get this figure?

Boy- From this.

Socrates- That is, from the line which extends from corner to corner of the figure of four feet?

Boy- Yes.

Socrates- And that is the line which the learned call the diagonal. And if this is the proper name, then you, Meno’s slave, are prepared to affirm that the double space is the square of the diagonal?

Boy- Certainly, Socrates.

Socrates- What do you say of him, Meno? Were not all these answers given out of his own head?

Meno- Yes, they were all his own.

Socrates- And yet, as we were just now saying, he did not know?

Meno- True.Socrates- But still he had in him those notions of his – had he not?

Meno- Yes.

Socrates- Then he who does not know may still have true notions of that which he does not know?

Meno- He has.

Socrates- And at present these notions have just been stirred up in him, as in a dream; but if he were frequently asked the same questions, in different forms, he would know as well as any one at last?

Meno- I dare say.

Socrates- Without any one teaching him he will recover his knowledge for himself, if he is only asked questions?

Meno- Yes.

Socrates- And this spontaneous recovery of knowledge in him is recollection?

Meno- True.

Socrates- And this knowledge which he now has must he not either have acquired or always possessed?

Meno- Yes.

Socrates- But if he always possessed this knowledge he would always have known; or if he has acquired the knowledge he could not have acquired it in this life, unless he has been taught geometry; for he may be made to do the same with all geometry and every other branch of knowledge. Now, was acquired has anyone ever taught him all this? You must know about him, if, as you say, he was born and bred in your house.

Meno- And I am certain that no one ever did teach him.

Socrates- And yet he has the knowledge?

Meno- The fact, Socrates, is undeniable.

Socrates- But if he did not acquire the knowledge in this life, then he must have had and learned it at some other time?

Meno- Clearly he must.

Socrates- Which must have been the time when he was not a man?

Meno- Yes.

Socrates- And if there have been always true thoughts in him, both at the time when he was and was not a man, which only need to be awakened into knowledge by putting questions to him, his soul must have always possessed this knowledge, for he always either was or was not a man?

Meno- Obviously.

Socrates- And if the truth of all things always existed in the soul, then the soul is immortal. Wherefore be of good cheer, and try to recollect what you do not know, or rather what you do not remember.

Meno- I feel, somehow, that I like what you are saying.

Socrates- And I, Meno, like what I am saying. Some things I have said of which I am not altogether confident. But that we shall be better and braver and less helpless if we think that we ought to enquire, than we should have been if we indulged in the idle fancy that there was no knowing and no use in seeking to know what we do not know; – that is a theme upon which I am ready to fight, in word and deed, to the utmost of my power.

Citation:

Benjamin Jowett, trans., The Dialogues of Plato, vol. II, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1892), 39-47.

Discussion Questions:

1. What problem does Meno see in the process of learning?
2. What does Socrates think about learning?
3. Briefly describe Socrates’ conversation with the slave boy and how said conversation demonstrates Socrates’ point about recollection.

9. TimeMaps-The Hellenistic World

The link below will take you to the website The Timemap of World History, a combination atlas and encyclopedia covering various time periods and regions of the world. The article included below is a good overview of the Hellenistic world, the name given to the regions of Macedonia, Greece, and the area conquered by Alexander the Great. The term Hellenistic means “to be like Greeks” and as the article shows Greek culture had a profound impact on the Near East and Middle East, and was in turn influenced by those eastern cultures.

https://www.timemaps.com/civilizations/hellenistic-world/

Discussion Questions:

1. Which aspects of Greek culture spread across the Hellenistic world?
2. In what ways was Greek culture influenced by other cultures?
3. How did government during the Hellenistic age differ from that of the Classical age?
4. What changes were made in warfare during the Hellenistic age?
5. What types of “economic expansion” took place during the Hellenistic age?
6. In what ways did Greek religion combine with others?
7. What innovations were made during the Hellenistic age in literature, sculpture, and architecture?
8. What innovations were made in math, science, and technology during the Hellenistic age?

10. Epictetus-The Enchiridion

Originally founded by the Greek philosopher Zeno, Stoic philosophy is centered on ethics and how people can live happy lives. The selection below comes from the Enchiridion by the Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus, who lived during the era of the Roman Republic. He believed that philosophy was an actual guide by which to live one’s life rather than simply a subject for abstract discussion. The Enchiridion excerpts here identity some of the primary themes of Stoic philosophy.

1. Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be hindered. You will lament, you will be disturbed, and you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you suppose that only to be your own which is your own, and what belongs to others such as it really is, then no one will ever compel you or restrain you. Further, you will find fault with no one or accuse no one. You will do nothing against your will. No one will hurt you, you will have no enemies, and you not be harmed.

Aiming therefore at such great things, remember that you must not allow yourself to be carried, even with a slight tendency, towards the attainment of lesser things. Instead, you must entirely quit some things and for the present postpone the rest. But if you would both have these great things, along with power and riches, then you will not gain even the latter, because you aim at the former too: but you will absolutely fail of the former, by which alone happiness and freedom are achieved.

Work, therefore to be able to say to every harsh appearance, “You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be.” And then examine it by those rules which you have, and first, and chiefly, by this: whether it concerns the things which are in our own control, or those which are not; and, if it concerns anything not in our control, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.

5. Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things. Death, for instance, is not terrible, else it would have appeared so to Socrates. But the terror consists in our notion of death that it is terrible. When therefore we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never attribute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own principles. An uninstructed person will lay the fault of his own bad condition upon others. Someone just starting instruction will lay the fault on himself. Some who is perfectly instructed will place blame neither on others nor on himself.

16. When you see anyone weeping in grief because his son has gone abroad, or is dead, or because he has suffered in his affairs, be careful that the appearance may not misdirect you. Instead, distinguish within your own mind, and be prepared to say, “It’s not the accident that distresses this person., because it doesn’t distress another person; it is the judgment which he makes about it.” As far as words go, however, don’t reduce yourself to his level, and certainly do not moan with him. Do not moan inwardly either.

18. When a raven happens to croak unluckily, don’t allow the appearance hurry you away with it, but immediately make the distinction to yourself, and say, “None of these things are foretold to me; but either to my paltry body, or property, or reputation, or children, or wife. But to me all omens are lucky, if I will. For whichever of these things happens, it is in my control to derive advantage from it.”

20. Remember, that not he who gives ill language or a blow insults, but the principle which represents these things as insulting. When, therefore, anyone provokes you, be assured that it is your own opinion which provokes you. Try, therefore, in the first place, not to be hurried away with the appearance. For if you once gain time and respite, you will more easily command yourself.

34. If you are struck by the appearance of any promised pleasure, guard yourself against being hurried away by it; but let the affair wait your leisure, and procure yourself some delay. Then bring to your mind both points of time: that in which you will enjoy the pleasure, and that in which you will repent and reproach yourself after you have enjoyed it; and set before you, in opposition to these, how you will be glad and applaud yourself if you abstain. And even though it should appear to you a seasonable gratification, take heed that its enticing, and agreeable and attractive force may not subdue you; but set in opposition to this how much better it is to be conscious of having gained so great a victory.

6. Don’t be prideful with any excellence that is not your own. If a horse should be prideful and say, “I am handsome,” it would be supportable. But when you are prideful, and say, I have a handsome horse,” know that you are proud of what is, in fact, only the good of the horse. What, then, is your own? Only your reaction to the appearances of things. Thus, when you behave conformably to nature in reaction to how things appear, you will be proud with reason; for you will take pride in some good of your own.

13. If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid with regard to external things. Don’t wish to be thought to know anything; and even if you appear to be somebody important to others, distrust yourself. For, it is difficult to both keep your faculty of choice in a state conformable to nature, and at the same time acquire external things. But while you are careful about the one, you must of necessity neglect the other.

26. The will of nature may be learned from those things in which we don’t distinguish from each other. For example, when our neighbor’s boy breaks a cup, or the like, we are presently ready to say, “These things will happen.” Be assured, then, that when your own cup likewise is broken, you ought to be affected just as when another’s cup was broken. Apply this in like manner to greater things. Is the child or wife of another dead? There is no one who would not say, “This is a human accident.” but if anyone’s own child happens to die, it is presently, “Alas I how wretched am I!” But it should be remembered how we are affected in hearing the same thing concerning others.

30. Duties are universally measured by relations. Is anyone a father? If so, it is implied that the children should take care of him, submit to him in everything, patiently listen to his reproaches, his correction. But he is a bad father. Is you naturally entitled, then, to a good father? No, only to a father. Is a brother unjust? Well, keep your own situation towards him. Consider not what he does, but what you are to do to keep your own faculty of choice in a state conformable to nature. For another will not hurt you unless you please. You will then be hurt when you think you are hurt. In this manner, therefore, you will find, from the idea of a neighbor, a citizen, a general, the corresponding duties if you accustom yourself to contemplate the several relations.

7. Consider when, on a voyage, your ship is anchored; if you go on shore to get water you may along the way amuse yourself with picking up a shellfish, or an onion. However, your thoughts and continual attention ought to be bent towards the ship, waiting for the captain to call on board; you must then immediately leave all these things, otherwise you will be thrown into the ship, bound neck and feet like a sheep. So it is with life. If, instead of an onion or a shellfish, you are given a wife or child, that is fine. But if the captain calls, you must run to the ship, leaving them, and regarding none of them. But if you are old, never go far from the ship: lest, when you are called, you should be unable to come in time.

11. Never say of anything, “I have lost it”; but, “I have returned it.” Is your child dead? It is returned. Is your wife dead? She is returned. Is your estate taken away? Well, and is not that likewise returned? “But he who took it away is a bad man.” What difference is it to you who the giver assigns to take it back? While he gives it to you to possess, take care of it; but don’t view it as your own, just as travelers view a hotel.

17. Remember that you are an actor in a drama, of such a kind as the author pleases to make it. If short, of a short one; if long, of a long one. If it is his pleasure you should act a poor man, a cripple, a governor, or a private person, see that you act it naturally. For this is your business, to act well the character assigned you; to choose it is another’s.

31. Be assured that the essential property of piety towards the gods is to form right opinions concerning them, as existing “I and as governing the universe with goodness and justice. And fix yourself in this resolution, to obey them, and yield to them, and willingly follow them in all events, as produced by the most perfect understanding. For thus you will never find fault with the gods, nor accuse them as neglecting you. And it is not possible for this to be effected any other way than by withdrawing yourself from things not in our own control, and placing good or evil in those only which are. For if you suppose any of the things not in our own control to be either good or evil, when you are disappointed of what you wish, or incur what you would avoid, you must necessarily find fault with and blame the authors. For every animal is naturally formed to fly and abhor things that appear hurtful, and the causes of them; and to pursue and admire those which appear beneficial, and the causes of them. It is impractical, then, that one who supposes himself to be hurt should be happy about the person who, he thinks, hurts him, just as it is impossible to be happy about the hurt itself. Hence, also, a father is reviled by a son, when he does not impart to him the things which he takes to be good; and the supposing empire to be a good made Polynices and Eteocles mutually enemies. On this account the husbandman, the sailor, the merchant, on this account those who lose wives and children, revile the gods. For where interest is, there too is piety placed. So that, whoever is careful to regulate his desires and aversions as he ought, is, by the very same means, careful of piety likewise. But it is also incumbent on everyone to offer libations and sacrifices and first fruits, conformably to the customs of his country, with purity, and not in a slovenly manner, nor negligently, nor sparingly, nor beyond his ability.

52. Upon all occasions we ought to have these maxims ready at hand:

“Conduct me, Jove, and you, 0 Destiny,

Wherever your decrees have fixed my station.”

Cleanthes

“I follow cheerfully; and, did I not,

Wicked and wretched, I must follow still

Whoever yields properly to Fate, is deemed

Wise among men, and knows the laws of heaven.”

Euripides, Frag. 965

And this third:

“0 Crito, if it thus pleases the gods, thus let it be. Anytus and Melitus may kill me indeed, but hurt me they cannot.”

Plato’s Crito and Apology

21. Let death and exile, and all other things which appear terrible be daily before your eyes, but chiefly death, and you win never entertain any abject thought, nor too eagerly covet anything.

29. In every affair consider what precedes and follows, and then undertake it. Otherwise you will begin with spirit; but not having thought of the consequences, when some of them appear you will shamefully desist. “I would conquer at the Olympic games.” But consider what precedes and follows, and then, if it is for your advantage, engage in the affair. You must conform to rules, submit to a diet, refrain from dainties; exercise your body, whether you choose it or not, at a stated hour, in heat and cold; you must drink no cold water, nor sometimes even wine. In a word, you must give yourself up to your master, as to a physician. Then, in the combat, you may be thrown into a ditch, dislocate your arm, turn your ankle, swallow dust, be whipped, and, after all, lose the victory. When you have evaluated all this, if your inclination still holds, then go to war. Otherwise, take notice, you will behave like children who sometimes play like wrestlers, sometimes gladiators, sometimes blow a trumpet, and sometimes act a tragedy when they have seen and admired these shows. Thus you too will be at one time a wrestler, at another a gladiator, now a philosopher, then an orator; but with your whole soul, nothing at all. Like an ape, you mimic all you see, and one thing after another is sure to please you, but is out of favor as soon as it becomes familiar. For you have never entered upon anything considerately, nor after having viewed the whole matter on all sides, or made any scrutiny into it, but rashly, and with a cold inclination. Thus some, when they have seen a philosopher and heard a man speaking like Euphrates (though, indeed, who can speak like him?), have a mind to be philosophers too. Consider first, man, what the matter is, and what your own nature is able to bear. If you would be a wrestler, consider your shoulders, your back, your thighs; for different persons are made for different things. Do you think that you can act as you do, and be a philosopher? That you can eat and drink, and be angry and discontented as you are now? You must watch, you must labor, you must get the better of certain appetites, must quit your acquaintance, be despised by your servant, be laughed at by those you meet; come off worse than others in everything, in magistracies, in honors, in courts of judicature. When you have considered all these things round, approach, if you please; if, by parting with them, you have a mind to purchase apathy, freedom, and tranquility. If not, don’t come here; don’t, like children, be one while a philosopher, then a publican, then an orator, and then one of Caesar’s officers. These things are not consistent. You must be one man, either good or bad. You must cultivate either your own ruling faculty or externals, and apply yourself either to things within or without you; that is, be either a philosopher, or one of the vulgar.

35. When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shun the being seen to do it, even though the world should make a wrong supposition about it; for, if you don’t act right, shun the action itself; but, if you do, why are you afraid of those who censure you wrongly?

Citation:

Elizabeth Carter, trans., The Works of Epictetus, vol. I, 4th ed. (London:  C. Stower, 1807), 295-297, 299-303, 305-308, 312-316, 322-323, 334-335. Located on the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/stream/TheWorksOfEpictetus4thEditionElizabethCarter1807/The%20Works%20of%20Epictetus%2C%204th%20Edition%20-%20Elizabeth%20Carter%20%281807%29#page/n665

Discussion Questions:

1. The first paragraph in The Enchiridion lays out a primary theme of Stoicism. What is the main message in Paragraph 1?
2. A common idea threads its way through Paragraphs 5, 16, 18, 20, and 34. What is this common idea?
3. Paragraphs 6, 13, 26, and 30 all deal with a common theme, a piece of advice for how to live our lives. What is that common theme?
4. Paragraphs 7, 11, 17, 31, and 52 raise yet another primary theme of Stoicism. What concept is common to all of these paragraphs?
5. What do you think Epictetus means in Paragraph 21?
6. What advice is Epictetus giving us in Paragraph 29?
7. What is the message behind Paragraph 35?

11. Epicurus-Letter to Menoeceus

The second primary philosophy of the Hellenistic world was Epicureanism, named after its founder Epicurus, who produced over 300 written works, with only a few fragments surviving until today. Epicurus’ main belief was that philosophy should help people to live rich, fulfilling lives free from both physical pain and mental anguish. The text below is a letter Epicurus wrote to a friend that contains advice on how one can have a pleasant existence. As you read this note that there are some similarities between Epicurean and Stoic philosophy.

Let no one when young delay to study philosophy, nor when he is old grow weary of his study. For no one can come too early or too late to secure the health of his soul. And the man who says that the age for philosophy has either not yet come or has gone by is like the man who says that the age for happiness is not yet come to him, or has passed away. Wherefore both when young and old a man must study philosophy, that as he grows old he may be young in blessings through the grateful recollection of what has been, and that in youth he may be old as well, since he will know no fear of what is to come. We must then meditate on the things that make our happiness, seeing that when that is with us we have all, but when it is absent we do all to win it.

The things which I used unceasingly to commend to you, these do and practice, considering them to be the first principles of the good life. First of all believe that god is a being immortal and blessed, even as the common idea of a god is engraved on men’s minds, and do not assign to him anything alien to his immortality or ill-suited to his blessedness: but believe about him everything that can uphold his blessedness and immortality. For gods there are, since the knowledge of them is by clear vision. But they are not such as the many believe them to be: for indeed they do not consistently represent them as they believe them to be. And the impious man is not he who denies the gods of the many, hut he who attaches to the gods the beliefs of the many. For the statements of the many about the gods are not conceptions derived from sensation, but false suppositions, according to which the greatest misfortunes befall the wicked and the greatest blessings the good by the gift of the gods. For men being accustomed always to their own virtues welcome those like themselves, but regard all that is not of their nature as alien.

Become accustomed to the belief that death is nothing to us. For all good and evil consists in sensation, but death is deprivation of sensation. And therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not because it adds to it an infinite span of time, but because it takes away the craving for immortality. For there is nothing terrible in life for the man who has truly comprehended that there is nothing terrible in not living. So that the man speaks but idly who says that he fears death not because it will be painful when it comes, but because it is painful in anticipation. For that which gives no trouble when it comes, is but an empty pain in anticipation. So death, the most terrifying of ills, is nothing to us, since so long as we exist, death is not with us; but when death comes, then we do not exist. It does not then concern either the living or the dead, since for the former it is not, and the latter are no more.

But the many at one moment shun death as the greatest of evils, at another yearn for it as a respite from the evils in life. But the wise man neither seeks to escape life nor fears the cessation of life, for neither does life offend him nor does the absence of life seem to be any evil, And just as with food he does not seek simply the larger share and nothing else, but rather the most pleasant, so he seeks to enjoy not the longest period of time, but the most pleasant.

And he who counsels the young man to live well, but the old man to make a good end, is foolish, not merely because of the desirability of life, but also because it is the same training which teaches to live well and to die well. Yet much worse still is the man who says it is good not to be born, but

“once born make haste to pass the gates of Death”  [Theognis, 427]

For if he says this from conviction why does he not pass away out of life? For it is open to him to do so, if he had firmly made up his mind to this. But if he speaks in jest, his words are idle among men who cannot receive them.

We must then bear in mind that the future is neither ours, nor yet wholly not ours, so that we may not altogether expect it as sure to come, nor abandon hope of it, as if it will certainly not come.

We must consider that of desires some are natural, others vain, and of the natural some are necessary and others merely natural; and of the necessary some are necessary for happiness, others for the repose of the body, and others for very life. The right understanding of these facts enables us to refer all choice and avoidance to the health of the body and the soul’s freedom from disturbance, since this is the aim of the life of blessedness. For it is to obtain this end that we always act, namely, to avoid pain and fear. And when this is once secured for us, all the tempest of the soul is dispersed, since the living creature has not to wander as though in search of something that is missing, and to look for some other thing by which he can fulfill the good of the soul and the good of the body. For it is then that we have need of pleasure, when we feel pain owing to the absence of pleasure; but when we do not feel pain, we no longer need pleasure. And for this cause we call pleasure the beginning and end of the blessed life. For we recognize pleasure as the first good innate in us, and from pleasure we begin every act of choice and avoidance, and to pleasure we return again, using the feeling as the standard by which we judge every good.

And since pleasure is the first good and natural to us, for this very reason we do not choose every pleasure, but sometimes we pass over many pleasures, when greater discomfort accrues to us as the result of them: and similarly we think many pains better than pleasures, since a greater pleasure comes to us when we have endured pains for a long time. Every pleasure then because of its natural kinship to us is good, yet not every pleasure is to be chosen: even as every pain also is an evil, yet not all are always of a nature to be avoided. Yet by a scale of comparison and by the consideration of advantages and disadvantages we must form our judgment on all these matters. For the good on certain occasions we treat as bad, and conversely the bad as good.

And again independence of desire we think a great good – not that we may at all times enjoy but a few things, but that, if we do not possess many, we may enjoy the few in the genuine persuasion that those have the sweetest pleasure in luxury who least need it, and that all that is natural is easy to be obtained, but that which is superfluous is hard. And so plain savors bring us a pleasure equal to a luxurious diet, when all the pain due to want is removed; and bread and water produce the highest pleasure, when one who needs them puts them to his lips. To grow accustomed therefore to simple and not luxurious diet gives us health to the full, and makes a man alert for the needful employments of life, and when after long intervals we approach luxuries, disposes us better towards them, and fits us to be fearless of fortune.

When, therefore, we maintain that pleasure is the end, we do not mean the pleasures of profligates and those that consist in sensuality, as is supposed by some who are either ignorant or disagree with us or do not understand, but freedom from pain in the body and from trouble in the mind. For it is not continuous drinking and reveling, nor the satisfaction of lusts, nor the enjoyment of fish and other luxuries of the wealthy table, which produce a pleasant life, but sober reasoning, searching out the motives for all choice and avoidance, and banishing mere opinions, to which are due the greatest disturbance of the spirit.

Of all this the beginning and the greatest good is prudence. Wherefore prudence is a more precious thing even than philosophy: for from prudence are sprung all the other virtues, and it teaches us that it is not possible to live pleasantly without living prudently and honorably and justly, nor, again, to live a life of prudence, honor, and justice without living pleasantly I For the virtues are by nature bound up with the pleasant life, and the pleasant life is inseparable from them. For indeed who, think you, is a better man than he who holds reverent opinions concerning the gods, and is at all times free from fear of death, and has reasoned out the end ordained by nature? He understands that the limit of good things is easy to fulfill and easy to attain, whereas the course of ills is either short in time or slight in pain: he laughs at destiny, whom some have introduced as the mistress of all things. He thinks that with us lies the chief power in determining events, some of which happen by necessity and some by chance, and some are within our control; for while necessity cannot be called to account, he sees that chance is inconstant, but that which is in our control is subject to no master, and to it are naturally attached praise and blame. For, indeed, it were better to follow the myths about the gods than to become a slave to the destiny of the natural philosophers: for the former suggests a hope of placating the gods by worship, whereas the latter involves a necessity which knows no placation. As to chance, he does not regard it as a god as most men do (for in a god’s acts there is no disorder), nor as an uncertain cause of all things: for he does not believe that good and evil are given by chance to man for the framing of a blessed life, but that opportunities for great good and great evil are afforded by it. He therefore thinks it better to be unfortunate in reasonable action than to prosper in unreason. For it is better in a man’s actions that what is well chosen should fail, rather than that what is ill chosen should be successful owing to chance.

Meditate therefore on these things and things akin to them night and day by yourself, and with a companion like to yourself, and never shall you be disturbed waking or asleep, but you shall live like a god among men. For a man who lives among immortal blessings is not like to a mortal being.

Citation:

Whitney J. Oates, ed., The Stoic and Epicurean Philosophers (New York:  Random House, 1940), 30-33. Located on the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.52230/2015.52230.Stoic-And-Epicurean-Philosophers-The-Complete-Extant-Writing-Of-Epicurus-Epictetus-Lucretius-Marcus-Aurelius#page/n57

Discussion Questions:

1. Why, according to Epicurus, is wisdom important?
2. What is Epicurus’ view of death?
3. What is the “…aim of the life of blessedness”?
4. What does Epicurus mean when he says “…not that we may at all times enjoy a few things, but that, if we do not possess many, we may enjoy the few…”?
5. What does Epicurus mean by “pleasure”?