Theophrastus

Remember what part your qualities are of the qualities of the whole, and that no man can prevent you from speaking and acting always in accordance with that nature of which you are a part.

In comparing crimes together, as, according to the common idea, they may be compared, Theophrastus makes the true philosophical distinction that those committed for motives of pleasure are more heinous than those which are due to passion.

For he who is a prey to passion is clearly turned away from reason by some spasm and convulsion that takes him unawares.

But he who sins from desire is conquered by pleasure, and so seems more incontinent and more effeminate in his vice.

And that he was a powerful speaker, not only do the comic poets testify, but also the most powerful of orators himself, who says in his speech, Against Medius, that Alcibiades was a most able speaker in addition to his other gifts.

And if we are to trust Theophrastus, the most versatile and learned of the philosophers, Alcibiades was of all men the most capable of discovering and understanding what was required in a given case.

But since he strove to find not only the proper thing to say, but also the proper words and phrases in which to say it, and since in this last regard he was not a man of large resources, he would often stumble in the midst of his speech, come to a stop, and pause a while, the particular phrase eluding him.

Then he would resume and proceed with all the caution in the world.

For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by John Berlynson Volume 4 of Plutarch's Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Translated by Bernadotte Perrin Lysander, Part 2 Lysander, after the three thousand Athenians whom he had taken prisoners, had been condemned to death by the special council of allies, calling Phylocles their general, asked him what punishment he thought should be visited upon him for having given his fellow-citizens such counsel concerning Greeks.

But he, not one whit softened by his misfortunes, bade him not play the prosecutor in a case where there was no judge, but to inflict, as victor, the punishment he would have suffered if vanquished.

Then after bathing and putting on a rich robe, he went first to the slaughter and showed his countrymen the way, as Theophrastus writes.

After this, Lysander sailed to the various cities, and ordered all the Athenians whom he met to go back to Athens, for he would spare none, he said, but would slaughter any whom he caught outside the city.

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INTRODUCTION AND EPISTLE DEDICATORY this translation of the characters of theophrastus is intended not for the narrow circle of classical philologists but for the larger body of cultivated persons who have an interest in the past within the last century only three english translations of the characters have appeared one by howell london eighteen twenty four another by isaac taylor london eighteen thirty six the third by professor jebb london eighteen seventy all of these have long been out of print a fact that seemed to justify the preparation of the present work the text followed has been in the main that of the edition published in eighteen ninety seven by the leipziger philologische gesellschaft a few coarse passages have been omitted and occasionally a phrase necessary to the understanding of the context has been inserted apart from this the translators have aimed to render the original with as much precision and fidelity as is consistent with english idiom Charles E. Bennett William A. Hammond Ithaca, NY August 1902 introduction what stories are new asked thackeray subtle observer of men all types of all characters march through all fables tremblers and boasters victims and bullies dupes and knaves long-eared neddies giving themselves leonine airs tartuffes wearing virtuous clothing lovers and their trials their blindness their folly and constancy with the very first page of the human story do not love and lies too begin so the tales were told ages before aesop and asses under lions manes roared in hebrew and sly foxes flattered in etruscan and wolves in sheep clothing gnashed their teeth in sanskrit no doubt the sun shines to-day as he did when he first began shining and the birds in the tree overhead while i am writing sing very much the same note they have sung ever since there were finches there may be nothing new under and including the sun but it looks fresh every morning and we rise with it to toil hope scheme laugh struggle love suffer until the night comes and quiet and then will wake morrow and the eyes that look upon it and so de capo all this is very true the changes which may be observed in human nature are small and the old types of theophrastus are all about us nowadays and really look and act much the same as they did to the eyes of the ancient peripatetic offices and institutions have somewhat changed and many character types due to new vocations have come into being since then e g the newsboy the bishop the reporter the hotel clerk and the jockey but these are only accidents of civilization and the peculiarities of office or the type or professional character do not touch the vital essence of human nature although they may modify its expression when one speaks of a coward one means an intrinsic quality in human kind which is essentially the same whether found in a hoplite or in a modern infantryman but which may express itself differently in the two cases the types described by theophrastus are types of such intrinsic qualities and his pictures of ancient vices and weaknesses show men much as we see them now they are not merely types of professions or callings apart from slight variations of local coloring and institutions the descriptions of the old greek philosopher might apply almost as well to the present inhabitants of london or boston as to the athenians of three hundred b c then as now the flatterer plied his wily trade indulging in smooth compliment of his hero's person or actions as he walks with an acquaintance he says behold how the eyes of all men are turned upon you there is not a man in the city who enjoys so much notice as yourself yesterday your praises were the talk of the porch while above thirty men were sitting there together and the conversation fell upon the topic who is our noblest citizen they all began and ended with your name if his friend say a jest the flatterer laughs and stuffs his sleeve into his mouth as though he could not contain himself but the flatterer of old could be subtle too he buys apples and pears carries them to his hero's house and gives them to the children and in the presence of their father he kisses them exclaiming chips of the old block and while his talk is directed to others in the company his eye is ever fixed upon his hero then as now there existed the officious man always over-ready to undertake the impossible or to interfere in the affairs of others at a banquet he forces the servants to mix more wine than the guests can drink if he sees two men in a quarrel he rushes in between even though he knows neither one if the doctor leaves instructions that no wine be given the patient he administers just a little on the plea that he wants to set the sufferer right there existed of course then as now the tactless person who selects a man's busiest hour for a lengthy conference and who sings love ditties under his sweetheart's window as she lies ill of a fever at a wedding he declaims against womankind and when a friend has just finished a journey he invites him to go for a walk if he happens to be standing by when a slave is flogged he tells the story of how he once flogged a slave of his who then went and hanged himself there was the mean man too who if his servant broke a pot or plate deducted its value from the poor fellow's rations he permits no one to take a fig from his garden or cross his field or even to pick up windfalls under his fruit trees he forbids his wife to lend salt or lamp wicks or a pinch of cumin marjoram or meal observing that these trifles make a large sum in a year there was also the thankless man whose pessimism is so gloomy as to cloud all view of his blessings when a friend has sent him something from his table he says to the servant who brings it he grudged me a dish of soup and a cup of wine i suppose and so couldn't invite me to dinner if he secures a slave at a bargain after long dickerings with the owner he says i imagine i haven't got much at this price and to the person who brings him glad tidings that a son is born to him he retorts if you only add and half your fortune's gone you'll hit it then we have the man who is ostentatious in trivial things when he has sacrificed an ox he winds up the head and horns with fillets and nails them up opposite the entrance of his house when he parades with the cavalry he gives all his accoutrements to his squire to carry home and throwing back his mantle stalks proudly about the market-place in his spurs when he is master of the prytany he craves the privilege of announcing to the people the result of the sacrifice and as soon as he has delivered to the people the momentous intelligence that the sacrifice has resulted well he hies him home and recounts his triumph to his wife in an ecstasy of joy The foregoing are but illustrations of the happy skill with which Theophrastus has delineated a number of character types which are as universal as human nature and know no limits of age or of country.

Here and there we meet a type in the Greek for which we have no exact counterpart in our customary modern modes of thought.

Such a type may be seen in Theophrastus, the disagreeable man, a person who seems a sort of general nuisance with a touch of the boar and the braggart.

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He tells us what a man does simply as an illustration of what he is.

And this method of writing had a very intimate bearing on the evolution of of the new comedy under the leadership of menander there is a tradition in fact that theophrastus was the teacher of menander who in turn furnished models for terence in his delineation of conventional dramatic types the influence of theophrastus was further directly and potently exerted on the so-called character writers of the seventeenth century in england and france the simple methods of these character writers and their uninvolved sketches were succeeded by the more elaborate art of the novelists in whose works individuals rather than types are described by exhibiting their development in long periods of time and under great diversity of circumstances We have little information as to the personal history of Theophrastus beyond what we learn from the extant fragments of his writings and from the meager biography of Diogenes of Laertes.

He was born at Eresus, a village on the island of Lesbos, in 371 B.C., and his father was one Melanthus, a fuller by trade.