If he has
anything
for sale, instead of informing the buyers at what price he prepared to sell it, he will ask them what he to get for it.
Universal Anthology - v04
what is this to you, sirrah ?
"
" More than you think," rejoined the slave. " What shall be my reward"if I hand you the proof that one of the two wills
is a forgery ? "
" You ! a miserable slave !
" The slave is often acquainted with his master's most secret
exclaimed the youth, astonished.
dealings," answered the other. " Come now, what's to be my reward ? " *
" Freedom, which is your rightful due for the discovery of such a crime. "
"Good," replied the slave, "but the freedman must have the means wherewith to live. "
" That also shall you have : five minae are yours, if you speak the truth. "
"Thy name is Charicles," said the slave; "no one hears your promise, but I'll trust you. My master is Sosilas, and they call me Molon. " He opened a small "bag, and pulled something out of it with a mysterious air. See, here is the signet," said he, " with which the forged will was sealed. " He took some wax, wetted it, and impressed the seal thereon. " That is the device of Polycles, an eagle clawing a snake ; you will be the eagle. " He related how he had witnessed the forgery through a crack in the door ; how a rustling he had made was near betraying him ; and how Sosilas, in his haste to bundle up the things, had unwittingly let the false stamp drop on the coverlet. "Now then," said he, "haven't I kept my word? "
" By the gods ! and so will I," cried Charicles, almost be side himself with wonder and joy. " Not five — no — ten minae shalt thou"have. And now to Sophilos with all speed. "
"No ! said the slave, "Itrust toyou. Do you go by your self, and have me called when you have need of me. " . . .
In addition to the slave's statement, and the production of the forged signet, another decisive proof had been obtained. With his usual circumspection and prudence, Polycles had, during his stay at iEdepsos, deposited a third copy of the will in the hands of a respectable man there. Of course this also testified against Sosilas ; and the forgery he had committed was now so manifest, that he might congratulate himself on the magnanimity of Sophilos in not proceeding against him.
THE GOLDEN MEAN. 255
THE GOLDEN MEAN. By ARISTOTLE.
(From the "Ethics. ")
[Aristotle, the greatest name in the history of philosophy, was born at Stageira, Macedonia, B. C. 384, of a line of able physicians ; his father was the friend and physician of King Philip's father. Early orphaned, and trained for the family profession, at eighteen he went to Athens to study philosophy ; on Plato's return from Syracuse, three years later, Aristotle became his pupil, and remained such for the seventeen years of Plato's life, teaching rhetoric, also in rivalry with Isocrates. On Plato's death, he went to the court of his old pupil Hermeias, now chief by conquest of Atarneus, opposite Lesbos. Three years after, Hermeias was slain by treachery ; Aristotle escaped to Mitylene with and married Hermeias' daughter. Two years later, b. c. 342, Philip invited him to Macedon to educate his son Alexander, then thirteen. In 334, when Alexander invaded Asia, he returned to Athens, and opened a school of phi losophy in the Peripatos, or covered walk of the Lyceum. After the death of Alexander in 323, Aristotle was prosecuted for impiety, like Socrates ; he fled to Chalcis in Euboea, and died in 322. His writings comprised 146 volumes
(100 now lost), and systematized all the knowledge of antiquity. Of his extant works, the chief are his "Logic,""— a science he practically created, — "Eth ics," "Politics," "Poetics," and Rhetoric. "]
Liberality and Illiberalitt.
Let us next speak of liberality. Now it appears to be a mean on the subject of possessions ; for the liberal man is praised, not for matters which relate to war, nor for those in which the temperate character is exhibited, nor yet for his judgment, but in respect to the giving and receiving of prop erty; and more in giving than receiving. But by property we mean everything of which the value is measured by money. Now, the excess and defect on the subject of property are prodigality and illiberality : the term illiberality we always attach to those who are more anxious than they ought about money ; but that of prodigality we sometimes use in a com plex sense, and attach it to intemperate people, — for we call those who are incontinent, and profuse in their expenditure for purposes of intemperance, prodigal ; therefore they seem to be the most wicked, for they have many vices at once. Now, they are not properly so called, for the meaning of the word prodigal is the man who has one single vice, namely, that of wasting his fortune ; for the man who is ruined by his own means is prodigal, and the waste of property appears
256 THE GOLDEN MEAN.
to be a sort of ruining one's self, since life is supported by means of property. This is the sense, therefore, that we attach to prodigality. But it is possible to make a good and bad use of everything which has use. Now, money is one of the useful things ; and that man makes the best use of every thing who possesses the virtue which relates to it : therefore he who possesses the virtue that relates to money will make the best use of it, and the possessor of it is the liberal man.
But spending and giving seem to be the use of money, and receiving and taking care of it are more properly the method of acquiring it : hence it is more the part of the liberal man to give to proper objects than to receive from proper persons, or to abstain from receiving from improper persons; for it belongs more to the virtue of liberality to do than to receive good, and to do what is honorable than to abstain from doing what is disgraceful. And it is clear that doing what is good and honorable belongs to giving, and that receiving good and abstaining from doing what is disgraceful belongs to receiv ing; and thanks are bestowed on the giver, and not on him who abstains from receiving, and praise still more so ; and abstaining from receiving is more easy than giving, for men are less disposed to give what is their own than not to take what belongs to another; and givers are called liberal, while those who abstain from receiving are not praised for liberality, but nevertheless they are praised for justice ; but those who receive are not praised at all. But liberal men are more beloved than any others, for they are useful, and their use fulness consists in giving.
But actions according to virtue are honorable, and are done for the sake of the honorable : the liberal man, therefore, will give for the sake of the honorable, and will give properly, for he will give to proper objects, in proper quantities, at proper times: and his giving will have all the other qualifications of right giving, and he will do this pleasantly and without pain ; for that which is done according to virtue is pleasant, or without pain, and by no means annoying to the doer. But he who gives to improper objects, and not for the sake of the honorable, is not to be called liberal, but something else ; nor yet he who gives with pain, for he would prefer the money to the performance of an honorable action, and this is not the part of a liberal man. Nor yet will the liberal man receive from improper persons, for such receiving is not characteristic
THE GOLDEN MEAN. 257
of him who estimates things at their proper value ; nor would he be fond of asking, for it is not like a benefactor readily to allow himself to be benefited : but he will receive from proper sources, for instance from his own possessions, not because it is honorable, but because it is necessary in order that he may have something to give; nor will he be careless of his own fortune, because he hopes by means of it to be of use to others ; nor will he give at random to anybody, in order that he may have something to give to proper objects and in cases where it is honorable to do so.
It is characteristic of the liberal man to be profuse and lavish in giving, so as to leave but little for himself ; for it is characteristic of him not to look to his own interest. But the term liberality is applied in proportion to a man's fortune, for the liberal consists not in the quantity of the things given, but in the habit of the giver ; and this habit gives according to the means of the giver. And there is nothing to hinder the man whose gifts are smaller being more liberal, provided he gives from smaller means. But those who have not been the makers of their own fortune, but have received it by inheritance, are thought to be more liberal, for they are inexperienced in want, and all men love their own productions most, as parents and poets. But it is not easy for the liberal man to be rich, since he is not apt to receive or to take care of money, but rather to give it away, and to be careless of it for its own sake, and only to care for it for the sake of giving away. And for this reason people upbraid fortune, because those who are most deserving of wealth are the least wealthy. But this happens not without reason, for it is impossible for a man to have money who takes no pains about getting as the case in other things.
Yet the liberal man will not give to improper persons, nor at improper times, and so forth, for he did, he would cease to act with liberality; and he were to spend money upon these things, he would have none to spend upon proper objects, —for, as has been observed, the man who spends according to his means, and upon proper objects, liberal, but he who
in the excess prodigal. For this reason we do not call kings prodigal, for does not appear easy to exceed the greatness of their possessions in gifts and expenditure.
Liberality, therefore, being middle state on the subject of
giving and receiving money, the liberal man will give and vol. nr. — 17
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258 THE GOLDEN MEAN.
expend upon proper objects, and in proper quantities, in small and great matters alike, and this he will do with pleasure ; and he will receive from proper sources, and in proper quantities : for since the virtue of liberality is a mean state, it both giving and receiving, he will in both cases act as he ought ; for proper receiving is naturally consequent upon proper giving, and im proper receiving is the contrary. Habits, therefore, which are naturally consequent upon each other are produced together in the same person, but those that are contrary clearly cannot. But if it should happen to the liberal man to spend in a manner inconsistent with propriety and what is honorable, he will feel pain, but only moderately and as he ought ; for it is character istic of virtue to feel pleasure and pain at proper objects, and in a proper manner. And the liberal man is ready to share his money with others ; for, from his setting no value on it, he is liable to be dealt with unjustly, and he is more annoyed at not spending anything that he ought to have spent, than pained at having spent what he ought not. But the prodigal man even in these cases acts wrongly, for he neither feels pleasure nor pain, where he ought nor as he ought.
But we have said that prodigality and illiberality are the excess and the defect, and that they are conversant with two things, giving and receiving, for we include spending under giving. Prodigality, therefore, exceeds in giving and not receiving, and falls short in receiving ; but illiberality is defi cient in giving, but excessive in receiving, but only in cases of small expenditure. Both the characteristics of prodigal ity, therefore, are seldom found in the same person ; for it is not easy for a person who receives from nobody to give to everybody, for their means soon fail private persons who give, and these are the very persons who seem to be prodigal. This character now would seem considerably better than the illiberal one ; for he is easily to be cured by age and by want, and is able to arrive at the mean : for he has the qualifications of the liberal man ; for he both gives and abstains from receiving, but in neither instance as he ought, nor well. If, therefore, he could be accustomed to do this, or could change his conduct in any other manner, he would be liberal, for he will then give to proper objects, and will not receive from improper sources ; and for this reason he does not seem to be bad in moral char acter, for it is not the mark of a wicked or an ungenerous man to be excessive in giving and not receiving, but rather of a
THE GOLDEN MEAN. 259
fool. But he who is in this manner prodigal seems far better than the illiberal man, not only on account of the reasons already stated, but also because he benefits many people, while the other benefits nobody, not even himself.
But the majority of prodigals, as has been stated, also receive from improper sources, and are in this respect illiberal. Now, they become fond of receiving, because they wish to spend, and are not able to do it easily, for their means soon fail them: they are, therefore, compelled to get supplies from some other quarter, and at the same time, owing to their not caring for the honorable, they receive without scruple from any person they can ; for they are anxious to give, and the how or whence they get the money matters not to them. Therefore their gifts are not liberal, for they are not honorable, nor done for the sake of the honorable, nor as they ought to be done ; but sometimes they make men rich who deserve to be poor, and will give to men of virtuous characters nothing, and to flat terers, or those who provide them with any other pleasure, much. Hence the generality of prodigals are intemperate also; for, spending money carelessly, they are expensive also in acts of intemperance, and, because they do not live with a view to the honorable, they fall away towards pleasures. The prodigal, therefore, if he be without the guidance of a master, turns aside to these vices ; but if he happen to be taken care of, he may possibly arrive at the mean, and at propriety.
But illiberality is incurable, for old age and imbecility of every kind seem to make men illiberal, and it is more congenial to human nature than prodigality; for the generality of man kind are fond of money rather than of giving, and it extends very widely, and has many forms, for there appear to be many modes of illiberality : for as it consists in two things, the defect of giving and the excess of receiving, it does not exist in all persons entire, but is sometimes divided ; and some ex ceed in receiving, and others fall short in giving. For those who go by the names of parsimonious, stingy, and niggardly, all fall short in giving : but do not desire what belongs to another, nor do they wish to receive, some of them from a cer tain fairness of character, and caution lest they commit a base action ; for some people seem to take care of their money, or at least say that they do, in order that they may never be com pelled to commit a disgraceful action. Of these also is the cummin splitter, and every one of similar character, and he
260 THE GOLDEN MEAN.
derives his name from being in the excess of unwillingness to give. Others, again, through fear abstain from other persons' property, considering it difficult for them to take what belongs to other people, without other people taking theirs. They therefore are satisfied neither to receive nor give.
Again, in receiving, some are excessive in receiving from any source and anything; those, for instance, who exercise illiberal professions, and brothel keepers, and all persons of this kind, and usurers, and those who lend small sums at high interest; for all these receive from improper sources, and in improper quantities. And the love of base gain appears to be common to them all ; for they all submit to reproach for the sake of gain, and even for small gain. For we do not call those illiberal who receive great things from improper sources, as tyrants, who lay waste cities and pillage temples, but rather we call them wicked, impious, and unjust. But the gamester, the clothes stealer, and the robber are of the illiberal class, for they are fond of base gain ; for both of them ply their trades for the sake of gain, and incur reproach. Clothes stealers and robbers submit to the greatest dangers for the sake of the advantage they gain, and gamesters gain from their friends, to whom they ought to give. Both, therefore, are lovers of base gain, in that they desire to gain from sources whence they ought not ; and all such modes of receiving are illiberal. With reason, therefore, is illiberality said to be contrary to liberal ity ; for not only is it a greater evil than prodigality, but also men are more apt to err on this side than on the side of the prodigality before mentioned.
Of Magnanimity and Little-Mindedness.
Magnanimity, even from its very name, appears to be con versant with great matters. First let us determine with what kind of great matters. But it makes no difference whether we consider the habit, or the man who lives according to the habit. Now, the magnanimous man appears to be he who, being really worthy, estimates his own worth highly ; for he who makes too low an estimate of it is a fool ; and no man who acts according to virtue can be a fool, nor devoid of sense. The character before-mentioned, therefore, is magnanimous ; for he whose worth is low, and who estimates it lowly, is a modest man, but not a magnanimous one : for magnanimity belongs to greatness,
THE GOLDEN MEAN.
261
just as beauty exists only with good stature ; for little persons may be pretty and well proportioned, but cannot be beautiful. He who estimates his own worth highly, when in reality he is unworthy, is vain ; but he who estimates it more highly than he deserves, is not in all cases vain. He who estimates it less highly than it deserves, is little-minded, whether his worth be great or moderate, or when worth little, he estimates himself at less and the man of great worth appears especially little- minded for what would he have done his worth had not been so great The magnanimous man, therefore, in the great ness of his merits, in the highest place but in his proper estimation of himself, in the mean for he estimates himself at the proper rate, while the others are in the excess and defect. If therefore the magnanimous man, being worthy of great things, thinks himself so, and still more of the greatest, his character must display itself on some one subject in particular.
Now, the term value used with reference to external goods and we must assume that to be of the greatest value which we award to the gods, and which men of eminence are most desirous of, and which the prize of the most honorable acts and such
thing as this honor; for this the greatest of external goods. The magnanimous man, therefore, acts with propriety on subjects of honor and dishonor. And, even without argu ments to prove the point, seems that the magnanimous are concerned with honor, for great men esteem themselves worthy of honor more than anything else for according to their desert. But the little-minded man in the defect, both as regards his own real merit and the magnanimous man's dig nity but the vain man in the excess as regards his own real merit, but in the defect as regards that of the magnanimous man.
The magnanimous man, he worthy of the highest honors, must be the best of men for the better man always worthy of the greater honor, and the best man of the greatest. The truly magnanimous man must therefore be good man and seems that whatever great in any virtue belongs to the magnanimous character for can in nowise be befitting the magnanimous man to swing his arms and run away, nor to commit an act of injustice for what could be the motive to base conduct to him to whom nothing great? And we examine the particulars of the case will appear ridiculous that the magnanimous man should not be good man and he
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262 THE GOLDEN MEAN.
could not even be deserving of honor, if he were a bad man ; for honor is the prize of virtue, and is bestowed upon the good.
Magnanimity, then, seems to be, as it were, a kind of orna ment of the virtues; for it makes them greater, and cannot exist without them. And for this reason it is difficult to be really magnanimous ; for it is impossible without perfect excel lence and goodness. The magnanimous character, therefore, is principally displayed on the subject of honor and dishonor. And in the case of great instances of honor, bestowed by the good, he will be moderately gratified, under the idea that he has obtained what is his due, or even less than he deserves ; for no honor can be equivalent to perfect virtue. Not but that he will receive it, because they have nothing greater to give him ; but honor from any other persons, and on the score of trifles, he will utterly despise : for these he does not deserve ; and like wise he will despise dishonor, for he cannot justly deserve it.
The magnanimous character is therefore, as has been said, principally concerned with honors : not but that in wealth and power, and all good and bad fortune, however it may come to pass, he will behave with moderation ; and not be too much delighted at success, nor too much grieved at failure : for he will not feel thus even at honor, though it is the greatest thing of all ; for power and wealth are eligible because of the honor they confer — at any rate, those who possess them desire to be honored on account of them. To him, therefore, by whom honor is lightly esteemed, nothing else can be important ; wherefore magnanimous men have the appearance of supercili ousness. Instances of good fortune also appear to contribute to magnanimity ; for the nobly born are thought worthy of honor, and those who possess power and wealth, for they sur pass others ; and everything which is superior in goodness is more honorable. Hence, such things as these make men more magnanimous ; for by some people they are honored. But in reality the good man alone is deserving of honor ; but he who has both is thought more worthy of honor : but those who, without virtue, possess such good things as these, neither have any right to think themselves worthy of great things, nor are properly called magnanimous; for magnanimity cannot exist without perfect virtue. But those who possess these things become supercilious and insolent ; for without virtue it is diffi cult to bear good fortune with propriety : and being unable to bear it, and thinking that they excel others, they despise them,
THE GOLDEN MEAN. 263
while they themselves do anything they please ; for they imi tate the magnanimous man, though they are not like him : but this they do wherever they can. Actions according to virtue they do not perform, but they despise others. But the mag nanimous man feels contempt justly, for he forms his opinions truly ; but the others form theirs at random.
The magnanimous man neither shuns nor is fond of danger, because there are but few things which he cares for ; but to great dangers he exposes himself, and when he does run any risk, he is unsparing of his life, thinking that life is not worth having on some terms. He is disposed to bestow, but ashamed to receive benefits ; for the former is the part of a superior, the latter of an inferior : and he is disposed to make a more liberal return for favors; for thus the original giver will have incurred an additional obligation, and will have received a benefit. He is thought also to recollect those whom he has benefited, but not those from whom he has received benefits ; for the receiver is inferior to the giver : but the magnanimous man wishes to be superior, and the benefits which he confers he hears of with pleasure, but those he receives with pain. Thetis therefore says nothing to Jupiter about the benefits she has conferred upon him, nor do the Lacedaemonians to the Athenians, but only about those which they have received. Again, it is char acteristic of the magnanimous man to ask no favors, or very few, of anybody, but to be willing to serve others : and towards men of rank or fortune to be haughty in his demeanor, but to be moderate towards men of middle rank ; for to be superior to the former is difficult and honorable, but to be superior to the latter is easy : and among the former there is nothing un generous in being haughty ; but to be so amongst persons of humble rank is bad taste, just like making a show of strength to the weak.
Another characteristic is, not to go in search of honor, nor where others occupy the first places ; and to be inactive and slow, except where some great honor is to be gained, or some great work to be performed ; and to be inclined to do but few things, but those great and distinguished. He must also necessarily be open in his hatreds and his friendships ; for concealment is the part of a man who is afraid. He must care more for truth than for opinion. He must speak and act openly ; for this is characteristic of a man who despises others : for he is bold in speech, and therefore apt to despise
264 THE GOLDEN MEAN.
others and truth telling, except when he uses dissimulation; but to the vulgar he ought dissemble. And he cannot live at the will of another, except it be a friend ; for it is servile : for which reason all flatterers are mercenary, and low-minded men are flatterers. He is not apt to admire ; for nothing is great to him. He does not recollect injuries ; for accurate recollection, especially of injuries, is not characteristic of the
man : but he rather overlooks them. He is not fond of talking of people : for he will neither speak of him self, nor of anybody else ; for he does not care that he himself should be praised, nor that others should be blamed. He is not disposed to praise; and therefore he does not find fault even with his enemies, except for the sake of wanton insult. He is by no means apt to complain or supplicate help in unavoidable or trifling calamities; for to be so in such cases shows anxiety about them. He is apt to possess rather what is honorable and unfruitful, than what is fruitful and useful ; for this shows more self-sufficiency. The step of the magnani mous man is slow, his voice deep, and his language stately; for he who only feels anxiety about few things is not apt to be in a hurry : and he who thinks highly of nothing is not vehement ; and shrillness and quickness of speaking arise from these things. This, therefore, is the character of the magnani mous man.
He who is in the defect is little-minded ; he who is in the excess is vain. But these do not seem to be vicious, for they are not evil doers, but only in error : for the little-minded man, though worthy of good things, deprives himself of his deserts ; but yet he resembles one who has something vicious about him, from his not thinking himself worthy of good things, and he seems ignorant of himself, for otherwise he would have desired those things of which he was worthy, especially as they are good things. Yet such men as these seem not to be fools, but rather idle. And such an opinion
seems to make them worse ; for each man desires those things which are according to his deserts : and they abstain even from honorable actions and customs, considering themselves unworthy ; and in like manner from external goods.
But vain men are foolish, and ignorant of themselves, and this obviously ; for, thinking themselves worthy, they aspire to distinction, and then are found out ; and they are fine in their dress, and their gestures, and so on ; and they wish their
magnanimous
HYMN TO DEMETRIUS POLIORCETES. 265
good fortune to be known, and speak of it, hoping to be honored for it. But little-mindedness is more opposed to magnanimity than vanity, for it is oftener found, and is worse. Magnanimity, therefore, as we have said, relates to great honor.
HYMN TO DEMETRIUS POLIORCETES. Tbamblation by J. A. 8YMOND8.
See how the mightiest gods, and best-beloved Towards our town are winging !
For lo, Demeter and Demetrius This glad day is bringing !
She to perform her daughter's solemn rites ; Mystic pomps attend her :
He, joyous as a god should be, and blithe, Comes with laughing splendor.
Show forth your triumph ! Friends all, troop around ! Let him shine above you !
Be you the stars to circle him with love ; He's the sun to love you.
Hail, offspring of Poseidon, powerful god, Child of Aphrodite !
The other gods keep far away from earth ; Have no ears, though mighty ;
They are not, or they will not hear us wail : Thee our eye beholdeth ;
Not wood, not stone, but living, breathing, real, Thee our prayer enfoldeth.
First give us peace ! Give, dearest, for thou canst : Thou art Lord and Master !
The Sphinx, who not on Thebes, but on all Greece Swoops to gloat and pasture ;
The iEtolian, he who sits upon his rock, Like that old disaster ;
He feeds upon our flesh and blood, and we Can no longer labor ;
For it was ever thus the jEtolian thief Preyed upon his neighbor ;
Him punish thou, or if not thou, then send (Edipus to harm him,
Who'll cast this Sphinx down from his cliff of pride, Or to stone will charm him.
266 CHARACTERS OF MEN.
CHARACTERS OF MEN. By THEOPHRASTU8.
(Translated by R. C. Jebb. )
[Theophbastcs, the successor of Aristotle at the head of the Lyceum (born in Lesbos, b. o. 874), was like him a naturalist as well as philosopher, and wrote works on botany. But his vital work was a little pamphlet containing thirty brief sketches of types of masculine character as exhibited in social relations, the model of the many such characterizations attempted since. He died b. c. 287. ]
The Surly Man.
Surliness is discourtesy in words.
The Surly man is one who, when asked where so and so will say, " Don't bother me " or, when spoken to, will not re ply.
If he has anything for sale, instead of informing the buyers at what price he prepared to sell it, he will ask them what he to get for it. Those who send him presents with their compliments at feast-tide are told that he " will not touch " their offerings. He cannot forgive person who has be smirched him by accident, or pushed him, or trodden upon his foot. Then friend asks him for subscription, he will say that he cannot give one; but will come with by and by, and remark that he losing this money also. When he stumbles in the street he apt to swear at the stone. He will not en dure to wait long for any one nor will he consent to sing, or to recite, or to dance. He apt also not to pray to the gods.
The Arrogant Man.
Arrogance certain scorn for all the world beside one self.
The Arrogant man one who will say to person who in hurry, that he will see him after dinner when he taking his walk. He will profess to recollect benefits which he has conferred. As he saunters in the street, he will decide cases for those who have made him their referee. When he nomi nated to public offices he will protest his inability to accept them, alleging that he too busy. He will not permit himself to give any man the first greeting. He apt to order persons
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CHARACTERS OF MEN. 267
who have anything to sell, or who wish to hire anything from him, to come to him at daybreak. When he walks in the streets he will not speak to those whom he meets, keeping his head bent down, or at other times, when so it pleases him, erect. If he entertains his friends, he will not dine with them himself, but will appoint a subordinate to preside. As soon as he sets out on a journey, he will send some one forward to say that he is coming. He is not likely to admit a visitor when he is anointing himself, or bathing, or at table. It is quite in his manner, too, when he is reckoning with any one, to bid his slave push the counters apart, set down the total, and charge"it to the other's account. In writing a letter, he will not say I should be much obliged," but " I wish it to be thus and thus ; " or"Ihave sent to youfor"thisorthat; or"Youwillattendto this strictly;" or " Without a moment's delay. "
The Mas of Petty Ambition.
Petty Ambition would seem to be a mean craving for dis tinction.
The man of Petty Ambition is one who, when asked to dinner, will be anxious to be placed next to the host at table. He will take his son away to Delphi to have his hair cut. He will be careful, too, that his attendant shall be an Ethiopian ; and when he pays a mina he will cause the slave to pay it with a new coin. Also he will have his hair cut very frequently, and will keep his teeth white ; he will change his clothes, too, while still good ; and will anoint himself with unguent. In the market place he will frequent the bankers' tables; in the gymnasia he will haunt those places where the young men take exercise ; in the theater, when there is a representation, he will sit near the generals. For himself he will buy nothing, but will make purchases on commission for foreign friends — pickled olives to go to Byzantium, Laconian hounds for Cyzicus, Hymettian honey for Rhodes ; and will talk thereof to people at Athens. Also he is very much the person to keep a mon key ; to get a satyr ape, Sicilian doves, deerhorn dice, Thurian vases of the approved rotundity, walking sticks with the true Laconian curve, and a curtain with Persians embroidered upon it. He will have a little court provided with an arena for wrestling and a ball alley, and will go about lending it to phi losophers, sophists, drill sergeants, musicians, for their displays ;
268 CHARACTERS OF MEN.
at which he himself will appear upon the scene rather late, in order that the spectators may say one to another, " This is the owner of the palestra. " When he has sacrificed an ox, he will nail up the skin of the forehead, wreathed with large garlands, opposite the entrance, in order that those who come in may see that he has sacrificed an ox. When he has been taking part in a procession of the knights, he will give the rest of his ac- couterments to his slave to carry home, but, after putting on his cloak, will walk about the market place in his spurs. He is apt, also, to buy a little ladder for his domestic jackdaw, and to make a little brass shield, wherewith the jackdaw shall hop upon the ladder. Or if his little Melitean dog has died, he will put up a memorial slab, with the inscription, A Scion of Melita. If he has dedicated a brass ring in the temple of Asclepius, he will wear it to a wire with daily burnishings and oilings. It is just like him, too, to obtain from the presidents of the Senate by private arrangement the privilege of report ing the sacrifice to the people ; when, having provided himself with a smart white cloak and put on a wreath, he will come forward and say : "Athenians ! we, the presidents of the Senate, have been sacrificing to the Mother of the Gods meetly and auspiciously ; receive ye her good gifts ! " Having made this announcement, he will go home to his wife and declare that he is supremely fortunate.
The Unseasonable Man.
Unseasonableness consists in a chance meeting, disagreeable to those who meet.
The Unseasonable man is one who will go up to a busy per son, and open his heart to him. He will serenade his mistress when she has a fever. He will address himself to a man who has been cast in a surety suit, and request him to become his security. He will come to give evidence when the trial is over. When he is asked to a wedding he will inveigh against womankind. He will propose a walk to those who have just come off a long journey. He has a knack, also, of bringing a higher bidder to him who has already found his market. He loves to rise and go through a long story to those who have heard it and know it by heart ; he is zealous, too, in charging
himself with offices which one would rather not have done, but
CHARACTERS OF MEN. 269
is ashamed to decline. When people are sacrificing and incur ring expense he will come to demand his interest. If he is present at the flogging of a slave, he will relate how a slave of his was beaten in the same way — and hanged himself ; or, assisting at an arbitration, he will persist in embroiling the parties when they both wish to be reconciled. And when he is minded to dance he will seize upon another person who is not yet drunk.
The Officious Man.
Officiousness would seem to be, in fact, a well-meaning pre sumption in word or deed.
The Officious man is one who will rise and promise things beyond his power ; and who, when an arrangement is admitted to be just, will oppose it, and be refuted. He will insist, too, on the slave mixing more wine than the company can finish ; he will separate combatants, even those whom he does not know ; he will undertake to show the path, and after all be unable to find his way. Also he will go up to his commanding officer, and ask when he means to give battle, and what is to be his order for the day after to-morrow. When the doctor for bids him to give wine to the invalid, he will say that he wishes to try an experiment, and will drench the sick man. Also he will inscribe upon a deceased woman's tombstone the name of her husband, of her father, and of her mother, as well as her own, with the place of her birth ; recording further that " All these were Estimable Persons. " And when he is about to take an oath he will say to the bystanders, " This is by no means the first that I have taken. "
The Stupid Man.
Stupidity may be defined as mental slowness in speech and action.
The Stupid man is one who, after doing a sum "and setting down the total, will ask the person next to him, What does it come to ? " When he is defendant in an action, and it is about to come on, he will forget it and go into the country ; when he is a spectator in the theater he will be left behind slumbering in solitude. If he has been given anything, and
270 CHARACTERS OF MEN.
has put it away himself, he will look for it and be unable to find it. When the death of a friend is announced to him in order that he may come to the house, his face will grow dark — tears will come into his eyes, and he will say, " Heaven be praised ! " He is apt, too, when he receives payment of a debt, to call witnesses ; and in winter time to quarrel with his slave for not having brought cucumbers ; and to make his children wrestle and run races until he has exhausted them. If he is cooking a leek himself in the country he will put salt into the pot twice, and make it uneatable. When it is raining he will observe, " Well, the smell from the sky is delicious (when others of course say " from the earth") ; or if he is asked, " How many corpses do you suppose have been carried out at the Sacred Gate ? " he will reply, "I only wish you or I had as many. "
The Shameless Man.
Shamelessness may be defined as neglect of reputation for the sake of base gain.
The Shameless man is one who, in the first place, will go and borrow from the creditor whose money he is withholding. Then, when he has been sacrificing to the gods, he will put away the salted remains, and will himself dine out ; and, call ing up his attendant, will give him bread and meat taken from the table, saying in the hearing of all, "Feast, most worshipful. " In marketing, again, he will remind the butcher of any service
which he may have rendered him ; and, standing near the scales, will throw in some meat, if he can, or else a bone for his soup : if he gets it, it is well ; if not, he will snatch up a piece of tripe from the counter, and go off laughing. Again, when he has taken places at the theater for his foreign visitors, he will see the performance without paying his own share ; and will bring
his sons, too, and their attendant, the next day. When any one secures a good bargain, he will ask to be given a part in it. He will go to another man's house and borrow barley, or sometimes bran ; and moreover will insist upon the lender delivering it at his door. He is apt, also, to go up to the coppers in the baths, — to plunge the ladle in, amid the cries of the bathman, — and
to souse himself ; saying that he has had his bath, and then, as he departs, — " No thanks to you ! "
CHARACTERS OF MEN. 271
The Newsmaker.
Newsmaking is the framing of fictitious sayings and doings at the pleasure of him who makes news.
The Newsmaker is a person who, when he meets his friend, will assume a demure air, and ask with a smile, " Where are you from, and what are your tidings ? What news have you to give about this affair ? " And then he will reiterate the question, " Is anything fresh rumored ? Well, certainly these are glorious tidings ! " Then, without allowing the other to answer, he will go on : " What say you ? You have heard
I flatter myself that I can treat you to some news ; and he has a soldier, or a slave of Asteius the fluteplayer, or Lycon the contractor, just arrived from the field of battle, from whom he says that he has heard of it. In fact, the authorities for his statements are always such that no one can possibly lay hold upon them. Quoting these, he relates how Polysperchon and the king have won the battle, and " Cassander has been taken alive ; and if any one says to him, But do you believe this ? " — " Why," he will answer, " the town rings with it ! The report grows firmer and firmer — every"one is agreed — they all give the same account of the battle : adding that the hash has been dreadful ; and that he can tell it, too, from the faces of the government — he observes that they have all changed countenance. He speaks also of having heard pri vately that the authorities have a man hid in a house who came just five days ago from Macedonia, and who knows it all. And in narrating all this — only think ! — he will be plausibly pa thetic, saying " Unlucky Cassander ! Poor fellow ! Do you see what fortune is ? Well, well, he was a strong man once . . . " : adding, " No one but you must know this " — when he has run up to everybody in town with the news.
The Evil Speaker.
The habit of Evil Speaking is a bent of the mind towards putting things in the worst light.
nothing ?
"
The Evil Speaker is one who, when asked who so-and-so is,
I will begin with his parentage. This person's father was originally called Sosias ; in the ranks he came to rank as Sosistratus, and, when he was
will reply, in the style of genealogists : "
272 CHARACTERS OF MEN.
enrolled in his deme, as Sosidemus. His mother, I may add, is a noble damsel of Thrace — at least she is called ' my life ' in the language of Corinth — and they say that such ladies are esteemed noble in their own country. Our friend himself, as might be expected from his parentage, is — a rascally scoundrel. " He is very fond, also, of saying to one : " Of course — I under stand that sort of thing ; you do not err in your way of describ ing it to our friends and me. These women snatch the passers-by out of the very street. . . . That is a house which has not the best of characters. . . . Really there is something in that prov
. . . In short, they have a trick of gos
erb about the women.
siping with men, — and they answer the hall door themselves. "
It is just like him, too, when others are speaking evil, to join in : " And I hate that man above all men. He looks a scoundrel, — it is written on his face : and his baseness — it defies description. Here is a proof: he allows his wife, who brought him six talents of dowry and has borne him a child, three farthings for the luxuries of the table ; and makes her wash with cold water on Poseidon's day. " When he is sitting with others he loves to criticise one who has just left the cir cle ; nay, if he has found an occasion, he will not abstain from abusing his own relations. Indeed he will say all manner of injurious things of his friends and relatives, and of the dead ; misnaming slander " plain speaking," " republican candor," " in dependence," and making it the chief pleasure of his life.
The Grumbler.
Grumbling is undue censure of one's portion.
The Grumbler is one who, when his friend has sent him a present from his table, will say to the bearer, " You grudged me my soup and my poor wine, or you would have asked me to dinner. " He will be annoyed with Zeus, not for not raining, but for raining too late ; and, if he finds a purse on the road, " Ah," he will say, " but I have never found a treasure. " When he has bought a slave cheap after much coaxing of the seller, " It is strange," he will remark, " if I have got a sound lot at such a bargain. " To one who brings him the good news, "A son is born to you," he will reply, " If you add that I have lost half my property, you will speak the truth. " When he has won a lawsuit by a unanimous verdict, he will find fault with the composer of his speech for having left out several of the
CHARACTERS OF MEN. 273
points in his case. If a subscription has been raised for him by his friends, and some one says to him, " Cheer up ! " — " Cheer up ? " he will answer, " when I have to refund this money to every man, and to be grateful besides, as if I had been done a service ! "
The Distrustful Man.
Distrustfulness is a presumption that all men are unjust.
The Distrustful man is one who, having sent his slave to market, will send another to ascertain what price he gave. He will carry his money himself, and sit down every two hundred yards to count it. He will ask his wife in bed if she has locked the wardrobe, and if the cupboard has been sealed, and the bolt put upon the hall door ; and if the reply is "yes," not the less will he forsake the blankets and run about shoeless to inspect all these matters, and barely thus find sleep. He will demand his interest from his creditors in the presence of witnesses, to prevent the possibility of their repudiating the debt. He is apt also to send his cloak to be cleaned, not to the best workman, but wherever he finds sterling security for the fuller. When any one comes to ask the loan of cups he will, if possible, refuse ; but if perchance it is an intimate friend or relation, he will almost assay the cups in the fire, and weigh them, and do everything but take security, before he lends them. Also he will order his slave, when he attends him, to walk in front and not behind, as a precaution against his running away in the street. To persons who have bought something of him and say, " How much is it ? Enter it in your books, for I am too busy to send the money yet," — he will reply: "Do not trouble yourself; if you are not at leisure, I will accompany you. "
The Mean Man.
Meanness is an excessive indifference to honor where expense is concerned.
The Mean man is one who, when he has gained the prize in a tragic contest, will dedicate a wooden scroll to Dionysus, having had it inscribed with his own name. When subscrip tions for the treasury are being made, he will rise in silence from his place in the Ecclesia, and go out from the midst.
VOL. IT. — 18
274 CHARACTERS OF MEN.
When he is celebrating his daughter's marriage he will sell the flesh of the animal sacrificed, except the parts due to the priest; and will hire the attendants at the marriage festival on condition that they find their own board. When he is trierarch he will spread the steersman's rugs under him on the deck, and put his own away. He is apt, also, not to send his children to school when there is a festival of the Muses, but to say that they are unwell, in order that they may not contribute. Again, when he has bought provisions, he will himself carry the meat and vegetables from the market place in the bosom of his cloak. When he has sent his cloak to be scoured he will keep the house. If a friend is raising a sub scription, and has spoken to him about it, he will turn out of the street when he descries him approaching, and will go home by a roundabout way. Then he will not buy a maid for his wife, though she brought him a dower, but will hire from the Women's Market the girl who is to attend her on the occasions when she goes out. He will wear his shoes patched with cobbler's work, and say that it is as strong as horn. He will sweep out his house when he gets up, and polish the sofas; and in sitting down he will twist aside the coarse cloak which he wears himself.
The Coward.
Cowardice would seem to be, in fact, a shrinking of the soul through fear.
The Coward is one who, on a voyage, will protest that the promontories are privateers ; and, if a high sea gets up, will ask if there is any one on board who has not been initiated. He will put up his head and ask the steersman if he is half way, and what he thinks of the face of the heavens ; remarking to the person sitting next him that a certain dream makes him feel uneasy ; and he will take off his tunic and give it to his slave ; or he will beg them to put him ashore.
On land also, when he is campaigning, he will call to him those who are going out to the rescue, and bid them come and stand by him and look about them first, saying that it is hard to make out which is the enemy. Hearing shouts and seeing men falling, he will remark to those who stand by him that he has forgotten in his haste to bring his sword, and will run to the tent, where, having sent his slave out to reconnoiter the
CHARACTERS OF MEN. 275
position of the enemy, he will hide the sword under his pillow, and then spend a long time in pretending to look for it. And seeing from the tent a wounded comrade being carried in, he will run towards him and cry " Cheer up ! " he will take him into his arms and carry him ; he will tend and sponge him ; he will sit by him and keep the flies off his wound ; in short, he will do anything rather than fight with the enemy. Again, when the trumpeter has sounded the signal for battle, he will cry as he sits in the tent, " Bother ! you will not allow" the man to get a wink of sleep with your perpetual bugling ! Then, covered with blood from the other's wound, he will meet those who are returning from the fight, and announce to them, " I have run some risk to save one of our fellows," and he will bring in the men of his parish and of his tribe to see his patient, at the same time explaining to each of them that he carried him with his own hands to the tent.
The Oligarch.
The Oligarchical temper would seem to consist in a love of authority ; covetous, not of gain, but of power.
The Oligarchical man is one who, when the people are deliberating whom they shall associate with the archon as joint directors of the procession, will come forward and express his opinion that these directors ought to have plenary powers ; and, if others propose ten, he will say that " one is sufficient," but that " he must be a man. " Of Homer's poetry he has mastered only this one line : —
No good comes of manifold rule ; let the ruler be one :
of the rest he is absolutely ignorant. It is very much in his manner to use phrases of this kind : " We must meet and discuss these matters by ourselves, and get clear of the rabble and the market place : " " we must leave off"courting office, and being slighted or graced by these fellows ; " either they or we must govern the city. " He will go out about the middle of the day with his cloak gracefully adjusted, his hair daintily trimmed, his nails delicately pared, and strut through the Odeum Street, making such remarks as these : " There is no living in Athens for the informers ; " " we are shamefully treated in the courts
"I cannot conceive what people want with meddling in public affairs ; " " how ungrateful the people are —
by the juries ; "
276 CHARACTERS OF MEN.
always the slaves of a largess or a bribe ; " and " how ashamed I am when a meager, squalid fellow sits down by me in the Ecclesia ! " " When," he will ask, " will they have done ruin ing us with these public services and trierarchies ? How de testable that set of demagogues is ! " " Theseus " (he will say) " was the beginning of the mischief to the state. It was he who reduced it from twelve cities to one, and undid the monarchy. And he was rightly served, for he was the people's first victim himself. "
And so on to foreigners and to those citizens who resemble him in their disposition and their politics.
The Patron of Rascals.
The Patronizing of Rascals is a form of the appetite for vice.
The Patron of Rascals is one who will throw himself into the company of those who have lost lawsuits and have been found guilty in criminal causes ; conceiving that, if he associ ates with such persons, he will become more a man of the world, and will inspire the greater awe. Speaking of honest men he will add " so-so," and will remark that no one"is honest, — all men are alike ; indeed, one of his sarcasms is, What an honest fellow ! " Again he will say that the rascal is " a frank man, if one will look fairly at the matter. " " Most of the things that people say" of him," he admits, " are true ; but some things," he adds, they do not know ; namely, that he is a clever fellow, and fond of his friends, and a man of tact ; " and he will contend in his behalf that he has " never met with an abler man.
" More than you think," rejoined the slave. " What shall be my reward"if I hand you the proof that one of the two wills
is a forgery ? "
" You ! a miserable slave !
" The slave is often acquainted with his master's most secret
exclaimed the youth, astonished.
dealings," answered the other. " Come now, what's to be my reward ? " *
" Freedom, which is your rightful due for the discovery of such a crime. "
"Good," replied the slave, "but the freedman must have the means wherewith to live. "
" That also shall you have : five minae are yours, if you speak the truth. "
"Thy name is Charicles," said the slave; "no one hears your promise, but I'll trust you. My master is Sosilas, and they call me Molon. " He opened a small "bag, and pulled something out of it with a mysterious air. See, here is the signet," said he, " with which the forged will was sealed. " He took some wax, wetted it, and impressed the seal thereon. " That is the device of Polycles, an eagle clawing a snake ; you will be the eagle. " He related how he had witnessed the forgery through a crack in the door ; how a rustling he had made was near betraying him ; and how Sosilas, in his haste to bundle up the things, had unwittingly let the false stamp drop on the coverlet. "Now then," said he, "haven't I kept my word? "
" By the gods ! and so will I," cried Charicles, almost be side himself with wonder and joy. " Not five — no — ten minae shalt thou"have. And now to Sophilos with all speed. "
"No ! said the slave, "Itrust toyou. Do you go by your self, and have me called when you have need of me. " . . .
In addition to the slave's statement, and the production of the forged signet, another decisive proof had been obtained. With his usual circumspection and prudence, Polycles had, during his stay at iEdepsos, deposited a third copy of the will in the hands of a respectable man there. Of course this also testified against Sosilas ; and the forgery he had committed was now so manifest, that he might congratulate himself on the magnanimity of Sophilos in not proceeding against him.
THE GOLDEN MEAN. 255
THE GOLDEN MEAN. By ARISTOTLE.
(From the "Ethics. ")
[Aristotle, the greatest name in the history of philosophy, was born at Stageira, Macedonia, B. C. 384, of a line of able physicians ; his father was the friend and physician of King Philip's father. Early orphaned, and trained for the family profession, at eighteen he went to Athens to study philosophy ; on Plato's return from Syracuse, three years later, Aristotle became his pupil, and remained such for the seventeen years of Plato's life, teaching rhetoric, also in rivalry with Isocrates. On Plato's death, he went to the court of his old pupil Hermeias, now chief by conquest of Atarneus, opposite Lesbos. Three years after, Hermeias was slain by treachery ; Aristotle escaped to Mitylene with and married Hermeias' daughter. Two years later, b. c. 342, Philip invited him to Macedon to educate his son Alexander, then thirteen. In 334, when Alexander invaded Asia, he returned to Athens, and opened a school of phi losophy in the Peripatos, or covered walk of the Lyceum. After the death of Alexander in 323, Aristotle was prosecuted for impiety, like Socrates ; he fled to Chalcis in Euboea, and died in 322. His writings comprised 146 volumes
(100 now lost), and systematized all the knowledge of antiquity. Of his extant works, the chief are his "Logic,""— a science he practically created, — "Eth ics," "Politics," "Poetics," and Rhetoric. "]
Liberality and Illiberalitt.
Let us next speak of liberality. Now it appears to be a mean on the subject of possessions ; for the liberal man is praised, not for matters which relate to war, nor for those in which the temperate character is exhibited, nor yet for his judgment, but in respect to the giving and receiving of prop erty; and more in giving than receiving. But by property we mean everything of which the value is measured by money. Now, the excess and defect on the subject of property are prodigality and illiberality : the term illiberality we always attach to those who are more anxious than they ought about money ; but that of prodigality we sometimes use in a com plex sense, and attach it to intemperate people, — for we call those who are incontinent, and profuse in their expenditure for purposes of intemperance, prodigal ; therefore they seem to be the most wicked, for they have many vices at once. Now, they are not properly so called, for the meaning of the word prodigal is the man who has one single vice, namely, that of wasting his fortune ; for the man who is ruined by his own means is prodigal, and the waste of property appears
256 THE GOLDEN MEAN.
to be a sort of ruining one's self, since life is supported by means of property. This is the sense, therefore, that we attach to prodigality. But it is possible to make a good and bad use of everything which has use. Now, money is one of the useful things ; and that man makes the best use of every thing who possesses the virtue which relates to it : therefore he who possesses the virtue that relates to money will make the best use of it, and the possessor of it is the liberal man.
But spending and giving seem to be the use of money, and receiving and taking care of it are more properly the method of acquiring it : hence it is more the part of the liberal man to give to proper objects than to receive from proper persons, or to abstain from receiving from improper persons; for it belongs more to the virtue of liberality to do than to receive good, and to do what is honorable than to abstain from doing what is disgraceful. And it is clear that doing what is good and honorable belongs to giving, and that receiving good and abstaining from doing what is disgraceful belongs to receiv ing; and thanks are bestowed on the giver, and not on him who abstains from receiving, and praise still more so ; and abstaining from receiving is more easy than giving, for men are less disposed to give what is their own than not to take what belongs to another; and givers are called liberal, while those who abstain from receiving are not praised for liberality, but nevertheless they are praised for justice ; but those who receive are not praised at all. But liberal men are more beloved than any others, for they are useful, and their use fulness consists in giving.
But actions according to virtue are honorable, and are done for the sake of the honorable : the liberal man, therefore, will give for the sake of the honorable, and will give properly, for he will give to proper objects, in proper quantities, at proper times: and his giving will have all the other qualifications of right giving, and he will do this pleasantly and without pain ; for that which is done according to virtue is pleasant, or without pain, and by no means annoying to the doer. But he who gives to improper objects, and not for the sake of the honorable, is not to be called liberal, but something else ; nor yet he who gives with pain, for he would prefer the money to the performance of an honorable action, and this is not the part of a liberal man. Nor yet will the liberal man receive from improper persons, for such receiving is not characteristic
THE GOLDEN MEAN. 257
of him who estimates things at their proper value ; nor would he be fond of asking, for it is not like a benefactor readily to allow himself to be benefited : but he will receive from proper sources, for instance from his own possessions, not because it is honorable, but because it is necessary in order that he may have something to give; nor will he be careless of his own fortune, because he hopes by means of it to be of use to others ; nor will he give at random to anybody, in order that he may have something to give to proper objects and in cases where it is honorable to do so.
It is characteristic of the liberal man to be profuse and lavish in giving, so as to leave but little for himself ; for it is characteristic of him not to look to his own interest. But the term liberality is applied in proportion to a man's fortune, for the liberal consists not in the quantity of the things given, but in the habit of the giver ; and this habit gives according to the means of the giver. And there is nothing to hinder the man whose gifts are smaller being more liberal, provided he gives from smaller means. But those who have not been the makers of their own fortune, but have received it by inheritance, are thought to be more liberal, for they are inexperienced in want, and all men love their own productions most, as parents and poets. But it is not easy for the liberal man to be rich, since he is not apt to receive or to take care of money, but rather to give it away, and to be careless of it for its own sake, and only to care for it for the sake of giving away. And for this reason people upbraid fortune, because those who are most deserving of wealth are the least wealthy. But this happens not without reason, for it is impossible for a man to have money who takes no pains about getting as the case in other things.
Yet the liberal man will not give to improper persons, nor at improper times, and so forth, for he did, he would cease to act with liberality; and he were to spend money upon these things, he would have none to spend upon proper objects, —for, as has been observed, the man who spends according to his means, and upon proper objects, liberal, but he who
in the excess prodigal. For this reason we do not call kings prodigal, for does not appear easy to exceed the greatness of their possessions in gifts and expenditure.
Liberality, therefore, being middle state on the subject of
giving and receiving money, the liberal man will give and vol. nr. — 17
it is
a
is
if
is
if
it, is
258 THE GOLDEN MEAN.
expend upon proper objects, and in proper quantities, in small and great matters alike, and this he will do with pleasure ; and he will receive from proper sources, and in proper quantities : for since the virtue of liberality is a mean state, it both giving and receiving, he will in both cases act as he ought ; for proper receiving is naturally consequent upon proper giving, and im proper receiving is the contrary. Habits, therefore, which are naturally consequent upon each other are produced together in the same person, but those that are contrary clearly cannot. But if it should happen to the liberal man to spend in a manner inconsistent with propriety and what is honorable, he will feel pain, but only moderately and as he ought ; for it is character istic of virtue to feel pleasure and pain at proper objects, and in a proper manner. And the liberal man is ready to share his money with others ; for, from his setting no value on it, he is liable to be dealt with unjustly, and he is more annoyed at not spending anything that he ought to have spent, than pained at having spent what he ought not. But the prodigal man even in these cases acts wrongly, for he neither feels pleasure nor pain, where he ought nor as he ought.
But we have said that prodigality and illiberality are the excess and the defect, and that they are conversant with two things, giving and receiving, for we include spending under giving. Prodigality, therefore, exceeds in giving and not receiving, and falls short in receiving ; but illiberality is defi cient in giving, but excessive in receiving, but only in cases of small expenditure. Both the characteristics of prodigal ity, therefore, are seldom found in the same person ; for it is not easy for a person who receives from nobody to give to everybody, for their means soon fail private persons who give, and these are the very persons who seem to be prodigal. This character now would seem considerably better than the illiberal one ; for he is easily to be cured by age and by want, and is able to arrive at the mean : for he has the qualifications of the liberal man ; for he both gives and abstains from receiving, but in neither instance as he ought, nor well. If, therefore, he could be accustomed to do this, or could change his conduct in any other manner, he would be liberal, for he will then give to proper objects, and will not receive from improper sources ; and for this reason he does not seem to be bad in moral char acter, for it is not the mark of a wicked or an ungenerous man to be excessive in giving and not receiving, but rather of a
THE GOLDEN MEAN. 259
fool. But he who is in this manner prodigal seems far better than the illiberal man, not only on account of the reasons already stated, but also because he benefits many people, while the other benefits nobody, not even himself.
But the majority of prodigals, as has been stated, also receive from improper sources, and are in this respect illiberal. Now, they become fond of receiving, because they wish to spend, and are not able to do it easily, for their means soon fail them: they are, therefore, compelled to get supplies from some other quarter, and at the same time, owing to their not caring for the honorable, they receive without scruple from any person they can ; for they are anxious to give, and the how or whence they get the money matters not to them. Therefore their gifts are not liberal, for they are not honorable, nor done for the sake of the honorable, nor as they ought to be done ; but sometimes they make men rich who deserve to be poor, and will give to men of virtuous characters nothing, and to flat terers, or those who provide them with any other pleasure, much. Hence the generality of prodigals are intemperate also; for, spending money carelessly, they are expensive also in acts of intemperance, and, because they do not live with a view to the honorable, they fall away towards pleasures. The prodigal, therefore, if he be without the guidance of a master, turns aside to these vices ; but if he happen to be taken care of, he may possibly arrive at the mean, and at propriety.
But illiberality is incurable, for old age and imbecility of every kind seem to make men illiberal, and it is more congenial to human nature than prodigality; for the generality of man kind are fond of money rather than of giving, and it extends very widely, and has many forms, for there appear to be many modes of illiberality : for as it consists in two things, the defect of giving and the excess of receiving, it does not exist in all persons entire, but is sometimes divided ; and some ex ceed in receiving, and others fall short in giving. For those who go by the names of parsimonious, stingy, and niggardly, all fall short in giving : but do not desire what belongs to another, nor do they wish to receive, some of them from a cer tain fairness of character, and caution lest they commit a base action ; for some people seem to take care of their money, or at least say that they do, in order that they may never be com pelled to commit a disgraceful action. Of these also is the cummin splitter, and every one of similar character, and he
260 THE GOLDEN MEAN.
derives his name from being in the excess of unwillingness to give. Others, again, through fear abstain from other persons' property, considering it difficult for them to take what belongs to other people, without other people taking theirs. They therefore are satisfied neither to receive nor give.
Again, in receiving, some are excessive in receiving from any source and anything; those, for instance, who exercise illiberal professions, and brothel keepers, and all persons of this kind, and usurers, and those who lend small sums at high interest; for all these receive from improper sources, and in improper quantities. And the love of base gain appears to be common to them all ; for they all submit to reproach for the sake of gain, and even for small gain. For we do not call those illiberal who receive great things from improper sources, as tyrants, who lay waste cities and pillage temples, but rather we call them wicked, impious, and unjust. But the gamester, the clothes stealer, and the robber are of the illiberal class, for they are fond of base gain ; for both of them ply their trades for the sake of gain, and incur reproach. Clothes stealers and robbers submit to the greatest dangers for the sake of the advantage they gain, and gamesters gain from their friends, to whom they ought to give. Both, therefore, are lovers of base gain, in that they desire to gain from sources whence they ought not ; and all such modes of receiving are illiberal. With reason, therefore, is illiberality said to be contrary to liberal ity ; for not only is it a greater evil than prodigality, but also men are more apt to err on this side than on the side of the prodigality before mentioned.
Of Magnanimity and Little-Mindedness.
Magnanimity, even from its very name, appears to be con versant with great matters. First let us determine with what kind of great matters. But it makes no difference whether we consider the habit, or the man who lives according to the habit. Now, the magnanimous man appears to be he who, being really worthy, estimates his own worth highly ; for he who makes too low an estimate of it is a fool ; and no man who acts according to virtue can be a fool, nor devoid of sense. The character before-mentioned, therefore, is magnanimous ; for he whose worth is low, and who estimates it lowly, is a modest man, but not a magnanimous one : for magnanimity belongs to greatness,
THE GOLDEN MEAN.
261
just as beauty exists only with good stature ; for little persons may be pretty and well proportioned, but cannot be beautiful. He who estimates his own worth highly, when in reality he is unworthy, is vain ; but he who estimates it more highly than he deserves, is not in all cases vain. He who estimates it less highly than it deserves, is little-minded, whether his worth be great or moderate, or when worth little, he estimates himself at less and the man of great worth appears especially little- minded for what would he have done his worth had not been so great The magnanimous man, therefore, in the great ness of his merits, in the highest place but in his proper estimation of himself, in the mean for he estimates himself at the proper rate, while the others are in the excess and defect. If therefore the magnanimous man, being worthy of great things, thinks himself so, and still more of the greatest, his character must display itself on some one subject in particular.
Now, the term value used with reference to external goods and we must assume that to be of the greatest value which we award to the gods, and which men of eminence are most desirous of, and which the prize of the most honorable acts and such
thing as this honor; for this the greatest of external goods. The magnanimous man, therefore, acts with propriety on subjects of honor and dishonor. And, even without argu ments to prove the point, seems that the magnanimous are concerned with honor, for great men esteem themselves worthy of honor more than anything else for according to their desert. But the little-minded man in the defect, both as regards his own real merit and the magnanimous man's dig nity but the vain man in the excess as regards his own real merit, but in the defect as regards that of the magnanimous man.
The magnanimous man, he worthy of the highest honors, must be the best of men for the better man always worthy of the greater honor, and the best man of the greatest. The truly magnanimous man must therefore be good man and seems that whatever great in any virtue belongs to the magnanimous character for can in nowise be befitting the magnanimous man to swing his arms and run away, nor to commit an act of injustice for what could be the motive to base conduct to him to whom nothing great? And we examine the particulars of the case will appear ridiculous that the magnanimous man should not be good man and he
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262 THE GOLDEN MEAN.
could not even be deserving of honor, if he were a bad man ; for honor is the prize of virtue, and is bestowed upon the good.
Magnanimity, then, seems to be, as it were, a kind of orna ment of the virtues; for it makes them greater, and cannot exist without them. And for this reason it is difficult to be really magnanimous ; for it is impossible without perfect excel lence and goodness. The magnanimous character, therefore, is principally displayed on the subject of honor and dishonor. And in the case of great instances of honor, bestowed by the good, he will be moderately gratified, under the idea that he has obtained what is his due, or even less than he deserves ; for no honor can be equivalent to perfect virtue. Not but that he will receive it, because they have nothing greater to give him ; but honor from any other persons, and on the score of trifles, he will utterly despise : for these he does not deserve ; and like wise he will despise dishonor, for he cannot justly deserve it.
The magnanimous character is therefore, as has been said, principally concerned with honors : not but that in wealth and power, and all good and bad fortune, however it may come to pass, he will behave with moderation ; and not be too much delighted at success, nor too much grieved at failure : for he will not feel thus even at honor, though it is the greatest thing of all ; for power and wealth are eligible because of the honor they confer — at any rate, those who possess them desire to be honored on account of them. To him, therefore, by whom honor is lightly esteemed, nothing else can be important ; wherefore magnanimous men have the appearance of supercili ousness. Instances of good fortune also appear to contribute to magnanimity ; for the nobly born are thought worthy of honor, and those who possess power and wealth, for they sur pass others ; and everything which is superior in goodness is more honorable. Hence, such things as these make men more magnanimous ; for by some people they are honored. But in reality the good man alone is deserving of honor ; but he who has both is thought more worthy of honor : but those who, without virtue, possess such good things as these, neither have any right to think themselves worthy of great things, nor are properly called magnanimous; for magnanimity cannot exist without perfect virtue. But those who possess these things become supercilious and insolent ; for without virtue it is diffi cult to bear good fortune with propriety : and being unable to bear it, and thinking that they excel others, they despise them,
THE GOLDEN MEAN. 263
while they themselves do anything they please ; for they imi tate the magnanimous man, though they are not like him : but this they do wherever they can. Actions according to virtue they do not perform, but they despise others. But the mag nanimous man feels contempt justly, for he forms his opinions truly ; but the others form theirs at random.
The magnanimous man neither shuns nor is fond of danger, because there are but few things which he cares for ; but to great dangers he exposes himself, and when he does run any risk, he is unsparing of his life, thinking that life is not worth having on some terms. He is disposed to bestow, but ashamed to receive benefits ; for the former is the part of a superior, the latter of an inferior : and he is disposed to make a more liberal return for favors; for thus the original giver will have incurred an additional obligation, and will have received a benefit. He is thought also to recollect those whom he has benefited, but not those from whom he has received benefits ; for the receiver is inferior to the giver : but the magnanimous man wishes to be superior, and the benefits which he confers he hears of with pleasure, but those he receives with pain. Thetis therefore says nothing to Jupiter about the benefits she has conferred upon him, nor do the Lacedaemonians to the Athenians, but only about those which they have received. Again, it is char acteristic of the magnanimous man to ask no favors, or very few, of anybody, but to be willing to serve others : and towards men of rank or fortune to be haughty in his demeanor, but to be moderate towards men of middle rank ; for to be superior to the former is difficult and honorable, but to be superior to the latter is easy : and among the former there is nothing un generous in being haughty ; but to be so amongst persons of humble rank is bad taste, just like making a show of strength to the weak.
Another characteristic is, not to go in search of honor, nor where others occupy the first places ; and to be inactive and slow, except where some great honor is to be gained, or some great work to be performed ; and to be inclined to do but few things, but those great and distinguished. He must also necessarily be open in his hatreds and his friendships ; for concealment is the part of a man who is afraid. He must care more for truth than for opinion. He must speak and act openly ; for this is characteristic of a man who despises others : for he is bold in speech, and therefore apt to despise
264 THE GOLDEN MEAN.
others and truth telling, except when he uses dissimulation; but to the vulgar he ought dissemble. And he cannot live at the will of another, except it be a friend ; for it is servile : for which reason all flatterers are mercenary, and low-minded men are flatterers. He is not apt to admire ; for nothing is great to him. He does not recollect injuries ; for accurate recollection, especially of injuries, is not characteristic of the
man : but he rather overlooks them. He is not fond of talking of people : for he will neither speak of him self, nor of anybody else ; for he does not care that he himself should be praised, nor that others should be blamed. He is not disposed to praise; and therefore he does not find fault even with his enemies, except for the sake of wanton insult. He is by no means apt to complain or supplicate help in unavoidable or trifling calamities; for to be so in such cases shows anxiety about them. He is apt to possess rather what is honorable and unfruitful, than what is fruitful and useful ; for this shows more self-sufficiency. The step of the magnani mous man is slow, his voice deep, and his language stately; for he who only feels anxiety about few things is not apt to be in a hurry : and he who thinks highly of nothing is not vehement ; and shrillness and quickness of speaking arise from these things. This, therefore, is the character of the magnani mous man.
He who is in the defect is little-minded ; he who is in the excess is vain. But these do not seem to be vicious, for they are not evil doers, but only in error : for the little-minded man, though worthy of good things, deprives himself of his deserts ; but yet he resembles one who has something vicious about him, from his not thinking himself worthy of good things, and he seems ignorant of himself, for otherwise he would have desired those things of which he was worthy, especially as they are good things. Yet such men as these seem not to be fools, but rather idle. And such an opinion
seems to make them worse ; for each man desires those things which are according to his deserts : and they abstain even from honorable actions and customs, considering themselves unworthy ; and in like manner from external goods.
But vain men are foolish, and ignorant of themselves, and this obviously ; for, thinking themselves worthy, they aspire to distinction, and then are found out ; and they are fine in their dress, and their gestures, and so on ; and they wish their
magnanimous
HYMN TO DEMETRIUS POLIORCETES. 265
good fortune to be known, and speak of it, hoping to be honored for it. But little-mindedness is more opposed to magnanimity than vanity, for it is oftener found, and is worse. Magnanimity, therefore, as we have said, relates to great honor.
HYMN TO DEMETRIUS POLIORCETES. Tbamblation by J. A. 8YMOND8.
See how the mightiest gods, and best-beloved Towards our town are winging !
For lo, Demeter and Demetrius This glad day is bringing !
She to perform her daughter's solemn rites ; Mystic pomps attend her :
He, joyous as a god should be, and blithe, Comes with laughing splendor.
Show forth your triumph ! Friends all, troop around ! Let him shine above you !
Be you the stars to circle him with love ; He's the sun to love you.
Hail, offspring of Poseidon, powerful god, Child of Aphrodite !
The other gods keep far away from earth ; Have no ears, though mighty ;
They are not, or they will not hear us wail : Thee our eye beholdeth ;
Not wood, not stone, but living, breathing, real, Thee our prayer enfoldeth.
First give us peace ! Give, dearest, for thou canst : Thou art Lord and Master !
The Sphinx, who not on Thebes, but on all Greece Swoops to gloat and pasture ;
The iEtolian, he who sits upon his rock, Like that old disaster ;
He feeds upon our flesh and blood, and we Can no longer labor ;
For it was ever thus the jEtolian thief Preyed upon his neighbor ;
Him punish thou, or if not thou, then send (Edipus to harm him,
Who'll cast this Sphinx down from his cliff of pride, Or to stone will charm him.
266 CHARACTERS OF MEN.
CHARACTERS OF MEN. By THEOPHRASTU8.
(Translated by R. C. Jebb. )
[Theophbastcs, the successor of Aristotle at the head of the Lyceum (born in Lesbos, b. o. 874), was like him a naturalist as well as philosopher, and wrote works on botany. But his vital work was a little pamphlet containing thirty brief sketches of types of masculine character as exhibited in social relations, the model of the many such characterizations attempted since. He died b. c. 287. ]
The Surly Man.
Surliness is discourtesy in words.
The Surly man is one who, when asked where so and so will say, " Don't bother me " or, when spoken to, will not re ply.
If he has anything for sale, instead of informing the buyers at what price he prepared to sell it, he will ask them what he to get for it. Those who send him presents with their compliments at feast-tide are told that he " will not touch " their offerings. He cannot forgive person who has be smirched him by accident, or pushed him, or trodden upon his foot. Then friend asks him for subscription, he will say that he cannot give one; but will come with by and by, and remark that he losing this money also. When he stumbles in the street he apt to swear at the stone. He will not en dure to wait long for any one nor will he consent to sing, or to recite, or to dance. He apt also not to pray to the gods.
The Arrogant Man.
Arrogance certain scorn for all the world beside one self.
The Arrogant man one who will say to person who in hurry, that he will see him after dinner when he taking his walk. He will profess to recollect benefits which he has conferred. As he saunters in the street, he will decide cases for those who have made him their referee. When he nomi nated to public offices he will protest his inability to accept them, alleging that he too busy. He will not permit himself to give any man the first greeting. He apt to order persons
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CHARACTERS OF MEN. 267
who have anything to sell, or who wish to hire anything from him, to come to him at daybreak. When he walks in the streets he will not speak to those whom he meets, keeping his head bent down, or at other times, when so it pleases him, erect. If he entertains his friends, he will not dine with them himself, but will appoint a subordinate to preside. As soon as he sets out on a journey, he will send some one forward to say that he is coming. He is not likely to admit a visitor when he is anointing himself, or bathing, or at table. It is quite in his manner, too, when he is reckoning with any one, to bid his slave push the counters apart, set down the total, and charge"it to the other's account. In writing a letter, he will not say I should be much obliged," but " I wish it to be thus and thus ; " or"Ihave sent to youfor"thisorthat; or"Youwillattendto this strictly;" or " Without a moment's delay. "
The Mas of Petty Ambition.
Petty Ambition would seem to be a mean craving for dis tinction.
The man of Petty Ambition is one who, when asked to dinner, will be anxious to be placed next to the host at table. He will take his son away to Delphi to have his hair cut. He will be careful, too, that his attendant shall be an Ethiopian ; and when he pays a mina he will cause the slave to pay it with a new coin. Also he will have his hair cut very frequently, and will keep his teeth white ; he will change his clothes, too, while still good ; and will anoint himself with unguent. In the market place he will frequent the bankers' tables; in the gymnasia he will haunt those places where the young men take exercise ; in the theater, when there is a representation, he will sit near the generals. For himself he will buy nothing, but will make purchases on commission for foreign friends — pickled olives to go to Byzantium, Laconian hounds for Cyzicus, Hymettian honey for Rhodes ; and will talk thereof to people at Athens. Also he is very much the person to keep a mon key ; to get a satyr ape, Sicilian doves, deerhorn dice, Thurian vases of the approved rotundity, walking sticks with the true Laconian curve, and a curtain with Persians embroidered upon it. He will have a little court provided with an arena for wrestling and a ball alley, and will go about lending it to phi losophers, sophists, drill sergeants, musicians, for their displays ;
268 CHARACTERS OF MEN.
at which he himself will appear upon the scene rather late, in order that the spectators may say one to another, " This is the owner of the palestra. " When he has sacrificed an ox, he will nail up the skin of the forehead, wreathed with large garlands, opposite the entrance, in order that those who come in may see that he has sacrificed an ox. When he has been taking part in a procession of the knights, he will give the rest of his ac- couterments to his slave to carry home, but, after putting on his cloak, will walk about the market place in his spurs. He is apt, also, to buy a little ladder for his domestic jackdaw, and to make a little brass shield, wherewith the jackdaw shall hop upon the ladder. Or if his little Melitean dog has died, he will put up a memorial slab, with the inscription, A Scion of Melita. If he has dedicated a brass ring in the temple of Asclepius, he will wear it to a wire with daily burnishings and oilings. It is just like him, too, to obtain from the presidents of the Senate by private arrangement the privilege of report ing the sacrifice to the people ; when, having provided himself with a smart white cloak and put on a wreath, he will come forward and say : "Athenians ! we, the presidents of the Senate, have been sacrificing to the Mother of the Gods meetly and auspiciously ; receive ye her good gifts ! " Having made this announcement, he will go home to his wife and declare that he is supremely fortunate.
The Unseasonable Man.
Unseasonableness consists in a chance meeting, disagreeable to those who meet.
The Unseasonable man is one who will go up to a busy per son, and open his heart to him. He will serenade his mistress when she has a fever. He will address himself to a man who has been cast in a surety suit, and request him to become his security. He will come to give evidence when the trial is over. When he is asked to a wedding he will inveigh against womankind. He will propose a walk to those who have just come off a long journey. He has a knack, also, of bringing a higher bidder to him who has already found his market. He loves to rise and go through a long story to those who have heard it and know it by heart ; he is zealous, too, in charging
himself with offices which one would rather not have done, but
CHARACTERS OF MEN. 269
is ashamed to decline. When people are sacrificing and incur ring expense he will come to demand his interest. If he is present at the flogging of a slave, he will relate how a slave of his was beaten in the same way — and hanged himself ; or, assisting at an arbitration, he will persist in embroiling the parties when they both wish to be reconciled. And when he is minded to dance he will seize upon another person who is not yet drunk.
The Officious Man.
Officiousness would seem to be, in fact, a well-meaning pre sumption in word or deed.
The Officious man is one who will rise and promise things beyond his power ; and who, when an arrangement is admitted to be just, will oppose it, and be refuted. He will insist, too, on the slave mixing more wine than the company can finish ; he will separate combatants, even those whom he does not know ; he will undertake to show the path, and after all be unable to find his way. Also he will go up to his commanding officer, and ask when he means to give battle, and what is to be his order for the day after to-morrow. When the doctor for bids him to give wine to the invalid, he will say that he wishes to try an experiment, and will drench the sick man. Also he will inscribe upon a deceased woman's tombstone the name of her husband, of her father, and of her mother, as well as her own, with the place of her birth ; recording further that " All these were Estimable Persons. " And when he is about to take an oath he will say to the bystanders, " This is by no means the first that I have taken. "
The Stupid Man.
Stupidity may be defined as mental slowness in speech and action.
The Stupid man is one who, after doing a sum "and setting down the total, will ask the person next to him, What does it come to ? " When he is defendant in an action, and it is about to come on, he will forget it and go into the country ; when he is a spectator in the theater he will be left behind slumbering in solitude. If he has been given anything, and
270 CHARACTERS OF MEN.
has put it away himself, he will look for it and be unable to find it. When the death of a friend is announced to him in order that he may come to the house, his face will grow dark — tears will come into his eyes, and he will say, " Heaven be praised ! " He is apt, too, when he receives payment of a debt, to call witnesses ; and in winter time to quarrel with his slave for not having brought cucumbers ; and to make his children wrestle and run races until he has exhausted them. If he is cooking a leek himself in the country he will put salt into the pot twice, and make it uneatable. When it is raining he will observe, " Well, the smell from the sky is delicious (when others of course say " from the earth") ; or if he is asked, " How many corpses do you suppose have been carried out at the Sacred Gate ? " he will reply, "I only wish you or I had as many. "
The Shameless Man.
Shamelessness may be defined as neglect of reputation for the sake of base gain.
The Shameless man is one who, in the first place, will go and borrow from the creditor whose money he is withholding. Then, when he has been sacrificing to the gods, he will put away the salted remains, and will himself dine out ; and, call ing up his attendant, will give him bread and meat taken from the table, saying in the hearing of all, "Feast, most worshipful. " In marketing, again, he will remind the butcher of any service
which he may have rendered him ; and, standing near the scales, will throw in some meat, if he can, or else a bone for his soup : if he gets it, it is well ; if not, he will snatch up a piece of tripe from the counter, and go off laughing. Again, when he has taken places at the theater for his foreign visitors, he will see the performance without paying his own share ; and will bring
his sons, too, and their attendant, the next day. When any one secures a good bargain, he will ask to be given a part in it. He will go to another man's house and borrow barley, or sometimes bran ; and moreover will insist upon the lender delivering it at his door. He is apt, also, to go up to the coppers in the baths, — to plunge the ladle in, amid the cries of the bathman, — and
to souse himself ; saying that he has had his bath, and then, as he departs, — " No thanks to you ! "
CHARACTERS OF MEN. 271
The Newsmaker.
Newsmaking is the framing of fictitious sayings and doings at the pleasure of him who makes news.
The Newsmaker is a person who, when he meets his friend, will assume a demure air, and ask with a smile, " Where are you from, and what are your tidings ? What news have you to give about this affair ? " And then he will reiterate the question, " Is anything fresh rumored ? Well, certainly these are glorious tidings ! " Then, without allowing the other to answer, he will go on : " What say you ? You have heard
I flatter myself that I can treat you to some news ; and he has a soldier, or a slave of Asteius the fluteplayer, or Lycon the contractor, just arrived from the field of battle, from whom he says that he has heard of it. In fact, the authorities for his statements are always such that no one can possibly lay hold upon them. Quoting these, he relates how Polysperchon and the king have won the battle, and " Cassander has been taken alive ; and if any one says to him, But do you believe this ? " — " Why," he will answer, " the town rings with it ! The report grows firmer and firmer — every"one is agreed — they all give the same account of the battle : adding that the hash has been dreadful ; and that he can tell it, too, from the faces of the government — he observes that they have all changed countenance. He speaks also of having heard pri vately that the authorities have a man hid in a house who came just five days ago from Macedonia, and who knows it all. And in narrating all this — only think ! — he will be plausibly pa thetic, saying " Unlucky Cassander ! Poor fellow ! Do you see what fortune is ? Well, well, he was a strong man once . . . " : adding, " No one but you must know this " — when he has run up to everybody in town with the news.
The Evil Speaker.
The habit of Evil Speaking is a bent of the mind towards putting things in the worst light.
nothing ?
"
The Evil Speaker is one who, when asked who so-and-so is,
I will begin with his parentage. This person's father was originally called Sosias ; in the ranks he came to rank as Sosistratus, and, when he was
will reply, in the style of genealogists : "
272 CHARACTERS OF MEN.
enrolled in his deme, as Sosidemus. His mother, I may add, is a noble damsel of Thrace — at least she is called ' my life ' in the language of Corinth — and they say that such ladies are esteemed noble in their own country. Our friend himself, as might be expected from his parentage, is — a rascally scoundrel. " He is very fond, also, of saying to one : " Of course — I under stand that sort of thing ; you do not err in your way of describ ing it to our friends and me. These women snatch the passers-by out of the very street. . . . That is a house which has not the best of characters. . . . Really there is something in that prov
. . . In short, they have a trick of gos
erb about the women.
siping with men, — and they answer the hall door themselves. "
It is just like him, too, when others are speaking evil, to join in : " And I hate that man above all men. He looks a scoundrel, — it is written on his face : and his baseness — it defies description. Here is a proof: he allows his wife, who brought him six talents of dowry and has borne him a child, three farthings for the luxuries of the table ; and makes her wash with cold water on Poseidon's day. " When he is sitting with others he loves to criticise one who has just left the cir cle ; nay, if he has found an occasion, he will not abstain from abusing his own relations. Indeed he will say all manner of injurious things of his friends and relatives, and of the dead ; misnaming slander " plain speaking," " republican candor," " in dependence," and making it the chief pleasure of his life.
The Grumbler.
Grumbling is undue censure of one's portion.
The Grumbler is one who, when his friend has sent him a present from his table, will say to the bearer, " You grudged me my soup and my poor wine, or you would have asked me to dinner. " He will be annoyed with Zeus, not for not raining, but for raining too late ; and, if he finds a purse on the road, " Ah," he will say, " but I have never found a treasure. " When he has bought a slave cheap after much coaxing of the seller, " It is strange," he will remark, " if I have got a sound lot at such a bargain. " To one who brings him the good news, "A son is born to you," he will reply, " If you add that I have lost half my property, you will speak the truth. " When he has won a lawsuit by a unanimous verdict, he will find fault with the composer of his speech for having left out several of the
CHARACTERS OF MEN. 273
points in his case. If a subscription has been raised for him by his friends, and some one says to him, " Cheer up ! " — " Cheer up ? " he will answer, " when I have to refund this money to every man, and to be grateful besides, as if I had been done a service ! "
The Distrustful Man.
Distrustfulness is a presumption that all men are unjust.
The Distrustful man is one who, having sent his slave to market, will send another to ascertain what price he gave. He will carry his money himself, and sit down every two hundred yards to count it. He will ask his wife in bed if she has locked the wardrobe, and if the cupboard has been sealed, and the bolt put upon the hall door ; and if the reply is "yes," not the less will he forsake the blankets and run about shoeless to inspect all these matters, and barely thus find sleep. He will demand his interest from his creditors in the presence of witnesses, to prevent the possibility of their repudiating the debt. He is apt also to send his cloak to be cleaned, not to the best workman, but wherever he finds sterling security for the fuller. When any one comes to ask the loan of cups he will, if possible, refuse ; but if perchance it is an intimate friend or relation, he will almost assay the cups in the fire, and weigh them, and do everything but take security, before he lends them. Also he will order his slave, when he attends him, to walk in front and not behind, as a precaution against his running away in the street. To persons who have bought something of him and say, " How much is it ? Enter it in your books, for I am too busy to send the money yet," — he will reply: "Do not trouble yourself; if you are not at leisure, I will accompany you. "
The Mean Man.
Meanness is an excessive indifference to honor where expense is concerned.
The Mean man is one who, when he has gained the prize in a tragic contest, will dedicate a wooden scroll to Dionysus, having had it inscribed with his own name. When subscrip tions for the treasury are being made, he will rise in silence from his place in the Ecclesia, and go out from the midst.
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274 CHARACTERS OF MEN.
When he is celebrating his daughter's marriage he will sell the flesh of the animal sacrificed, except the parts due to the priest; and will hire the attendants at the marriage festival on condition that they find their own board. When he is trierarch he will spread the steersman's rugs under him on the deck, and put his own away. He is apt, also, not to send his children to school when there is a festival of the Muses, but to say that they are unwell, in order that they may not contribute. Again, when he has bought provisions, he will himself carry the meat and vegetables from the market place in the bosom of his cloak. When he has sent his cloak to be scoured he will keep the house. If a friend is raising a sub scription, and has spoken to him about it, he will turn out of the street when he descries him approaching, and will go home by a roundabout way. Then he will not buy a maid for his wife, though she brought him a dower, but will hire from the Women's Market the girl who is to attend her on the occasions when she goes out. He will wear his shoes patched with cobbler's work, and say that it is as strong as horn. He will sweep out his house when he gets up, and polish the sofas; and in sitting down he will twist aside the coarse cloak which he wears himself.
The Coward.
Cowardice would seem to be, in fact, a shrinking of the soul through fear.
The Coward is one who, on a voyage, will protest that the promontories are privateers ; and, if a high sea gets up, will ask if there is any one on board who has not been initiated. He will put up his head and ask the steersman if he is half way, and what he thinks of the face of the heavens ; remarking to the person sitting next him that a certain dream makes him feel uneasy ; and he will take off his tunic and give it to his slave ; or he will beg them to put him ashore.
On land also, when he is campaigning, he will call to him those who are going out to the rescue, and bid them come and stand by him and look about them first, saying that it is hard to make out which is the enemy. Hearing shouts and seeing men falling, he will remark to those who stand by him that he has forgotten in his haste to bring his sword, and will run to the tent, where, having sent his slave out to reconnoiter the
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position of the enemy, he will hide the sword under his pillow, and then spend a long time in pretending to look for it. And seeing from the tent a wounded comrade being carried in, he will run towards him and cry " Cheer up ! " he will take him into his arms and carry him ; he will tend and sponge him ; he will sit by him and keep the flies off his wound ; in short, he will do anything rather than fight with the enemy. Again, when the trumpeter has sounded the signal for battle, he will cry as he sits in the tent, " Bother ! you will not allow" the man to get a wink of sleep with your perpetual bugling ! Then, covered with blood from the other's wound, he will meet those who are returning from the fight, and announce to them, " I have run some risk to save one of our fellows," and he will bring in the men of his parish and of his tribe to see his patient, at the same time explaining to each of them that he carried him with his own hands to the tent.
The Oligarch.
The Oligarchical temper would seem to consist in a love of authority ; covetous, not of gain, but of power.
The Oligarchical man is one who, when the people are deliberating whom they shall associate with the archon as joint directors of the procession, will come forward and express his opinion that these directors ought to have plenary powers ; and, if others propose ten, he will say that " one is sufficient," but that " he must be a man. " Of Homer's poetry he has mastered only this one line : —
No good comes of manifold rule ; let the ruler be one :
of the rest he is absolutely ignorant. It is very much in his manner to use phrases of this kind : " We must meet and discuss these matters by ourselves, and get clear of the rabble and the market place : " " we must leave off"courting office, and being slighted or graced by these fellows ; " either they or we must govern the city. " He will go out about the middle of the day with his cloak gracefully adjusted, his hair daintily trimmed, his nails delicately pared, and strut through the Odeum Street, making such remarks as these : " There is no living in Athens for the informers ; " " we are shamefully treated in the courts
"I cannot conceive what people want with meddling in public affairs ; " " how ungrateful the people are —
by the juries ; "
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always the slaves of a largess or a bribe ; " and " how ashamed I am when a meager, squalid fellow sits down by me in the Ecclesia ! " " When," he will ask, " will they have done ruin ing us with these public services and trierarchies ? How de testable that set of demagogues is ! " " Theseus " (he will say) " was the beginning of the mischief to the state. It was he who reduced it from twelve cities to one, and undid the monarchy. And he was rightly served, for he was the people's first victim himself. "
And so on to foreigners and to those citizens who resemble him in their disposition and their politics.
The Patron of Rascals.
The Patronizing of Rascals is a form of the appetite for vice.
The Patron of Rascals is one who will throw himself into the company of those who have lost lawsuits and have been found guilty in criminal causes ; conceiving that, if he associ ates with such persons, he will become more a man of the world, and will inspire the greater awe. Speaking of honest men he will add " so-so," and will remark that no one"is honest, — all men are alike ; indeed, one of his sarcasms is, What an honest fellow ! " Again he will say that the rascal is " a frank man, if one will look fairly at the matter. " " Most of the things that people say" of him," he admits, " are true ; but some things," he adds, they do not know ; namely, that he is a clever fellow, and fond of his friends, and a man of tact ; " and he will contend in his behalf that he has " never met with an abler man.
