Comprising all his Works Collected under the Title of “Morals” · Translated from the…

BOSTON · LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY · MCMXI

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, By Little, Brown, and Company, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

Copyright, 1898, 1905, By Little, Brown, and Company.

Printers S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U. S. A.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME SECOND. WITH THE TRANSLATORS’ NAMES.

Periander prepares the banquet, 4. A question proposed to Bias of Priene, 4. Thales ascertained the height of one of the pyramids, and how, 5. Need of preparation for an entertainment, 6. Conversation by the way, 6, 7. Arrival of the company, 7. Anacharsis the Scythian; Eumetis, 8. The seat assigned to a person a frivolous consideration, 9. A prodigy: a child born of a mare, 10. The explanation, 11. Esop relates the fable of the Lydian mule, 11. The frugality of Periander, 12. Anacharsis is questioned respecting the Scythians, 12. A letter is read from Amasis, king of Egypt, proposing a question, 13. Bias suggests an answer to the question, 14. The seven wise men, in turn, reply to the question how a people should be governed, 15. The discussion continued, 16, 17. Answers to other questions, 17, 18. Riddles and their solutions, 19, 20. How should a state be governed? 20. How to govern a house, 21, 22. Talk about drinking wine, 23. The end is worth more than the means, 24. The end of drinking is to nourish and increase friendship, 24. What measure of outward good

should be regarded as sufficient, 26. A spare diet, as recommended by Hesiod, 27. Extremes to be avoided, 28. Enjoy freely what we have, but with moderation, 29. A necessity for eating and drinking, 31. But fatal distempers often ensue, 32. The story of Arion and the dolphins, 33-36. The story of Hesiod and the dolphins, 36, 37. Another story about dolphins, 38. The creatures obey the impulse of God, 39. Μηδὲν ἄγαν, “Do not overdo,” 40, 41.

Young people are fond of fiction, 42. The danger hence arising, 42, 43. We would not interdict to them the reading of poetry, 44. But give them wholesome advice touching the matter, 45. Poets deal much in fiction: it belongs to the very essence of poetry, 46. This contributes greatly to the entertainment of the reader, 46. Evident absurdities must be rejected, 47. Do not receive as literal truth what the poets say of the gods or of the departed, 48. Poetry is an imitative art: the exactness of the imitation, even of a foul action, gives pleasure, 50. If odious and abominable conduct is to be represented in poetry, the expression must correspond, 51. But the poets, especially Homer, signify their disapproval of such conduct, 52, 53. They often introduce evil examples to promote moral improvement, 55. The contradictions among poets lessen the credit of what they say, and thus diminish the possible danger, 55. The poets often furnish antidotes to the poison they deal out, 57, 58. We may also quote the philosophers against the poets, 59. In

using the names of the gods, the poets often mean only the powers of nature, or fortune, or some second cause, 61, 62. They often use words tropically, and then are not to be taken in the literal sense, 64, 65. Poetry requires variety, hence it never represents the same persons, not even the gods, as uniformly virtuous or prosperous, 66, 67. Therefore the young man must not approve or admire every thing which is said of the heroes of poetry, 68. Instance, Achilles and Agamemnon, 69. Several passages in Homer criticised, 69-72. Criticism on Sophocles, 72. More criticisms and explanations of the Iliad, 74-84, 89, 90. Young men may be taught good morals, and how they differ from bad, by the poets, ib. Boys may learn something useful even from passages wicked and absurd, 83. We may show young persons how passages in the poets, of good tendency, are confirmed by the language of philosophers, 91. Plato and the poets sometimes speak alike, 92. Thus may poetry and philosophy be reconciled, 93, 94.

Envy and Hatred are alike opposed to Benevolence, 95. Yet they are distinct passions, 95. Their points of difference, 95, et seq. Hatred regards the hated person as evil; envy regards only the felicity of others, 95. Hatred may be directed against brutes; envy is directed only against man, 96. Brutes may hate but never envy brutes, 96. Envy is always unjust; hatred is often just, 96. Hatred increases as the object grows worse; envy rises higher as the object increases in virtue, 97. Envy often ceases when the object has risen to supreme power; hatred never ceases, 98.

Self-love and self-admiration expose a man to the attempts of flatterers, 100. Mean, poor, and worthless people are not flattered, but those of a generous and noble nature, 101. In the choice of friends, let us be wary, yet not over scrupulous, 102. A parasite who is cringing and obsequious is not difficult of detection, 103. The great danger is from those who personate the true friend, yet are selfish and insincere, 104. True friendship arises from a conformity of tempers and dispositions, 105. The flatterer attempts such a conformity, 106. It is not natural and uniform, but a mere disguise, 107. The flatterer is mutable and inconstant, 109. He only reflects the humors of other men, 109. The true friend imitates and commends only what is worthy, 110. The flatterer copies the faults and blemishes of friends, 110, 111. He pretends to have the same diseases, 111. And to suffer the same ill-treatment, 112. Counterfeiting the good qualities of a friend, he yields him the pre-eminence, 112. The flatterer often overdoes, in the effort to

make himself agreeable, 114. The true friend is sometimes under the necessity of giving pain, 115. The flatterer deals out undeserved encomium, against which our own conscience protests, 116. Sometimes he utters praise as if he heard it from a third person, 119. Sometimes he flatters men in their vices by deriding the contrary virtues, 119, 120. There is a silent flattery, as when a man yields his place to another, 121. The parasite praises the man of money, 122. His censures, if he deliver any, fall upon venial faults, not on real crimes, 124. He flatters, even while pretending to blame, 125. Men, are flattered when reproved for faults directly the reverse of their real ones, 126. The friend aims at the improvement of our character; the flatterer works on our weak spots, 128, 129. The friend is open-hearted and natural; the flatterer ceremonious and obsequious, 130. The real friend will assist in no dishonest endeavor: the flatterer has no scruples about the proposal, 131, 132, 134, 135. The kindness of a friend is without parade; that of

a flatterer is attended with bustle and show, 133. The flatterer reminds us of his past services; the true friend never, 134. An accurate self-knowledge defends against flattery, 137, 138. We have no need of flattery, 138. Causeless censure may be equally mischievous with causeless praise, 138. How to avoid causeless reprehension of others, 139, et seq. Eliminate from the affair all self-interest, 140. Free our speech from reproachful words, 141. Deliver ourselves with seriousness and dignity, 142. Make our reproofs seasonable, 143. The prosperous need reproof rather than the afflicted, 144. When is severe reproof allowable? 145. Reprove not in presence of another, 148; especially not before inferiors, 149. A reprover should not himself need reproof, 150. In reproving, confess our own fault, 150. Mix with the reproof a little praise, 151. If reproved, do not retort on your monitor, 152. Reprove only on weighty occasions, 152. Avoid a fault-finding, captious habit, 153. Reproof is not offensive, when kindly administered, 154. Reprove with caution

and moderation, 155. Care should be used to leave with the reproof a salutary impression, 156.

Four interlocutors discourse respecting this doctrine, 157-203. What had been said by a favorer of Epicurus, 157, 158. What the Epicurean doctrine is, 159. It recognizes no pleasure but that which is derived from the senses, 160. Objections to this doctrine, 160, et seq. Pains, as well as pleasures, enter through the senses, and these are keenly felt, 161. Bodily pleasure is feeble and soon over, 161. The remembrance of past pleasure only stimulates desire for more, 163; and this produces a restless habit, 164. No man can safely count on a continuance of what he now enjoys, 165. Hence there must be constant disquiet, 166. A wicked course contributes nothing to assurance of continual enjoyment, 166. Our very bodily constitution places us in constant peril, 167. To escape evil, the Epicureans say, is the supreme good; but this is simply impossible, 167. If it were possible, it would not raise us above the brutes, 168, 169. Freedom from bodily pain is a trivial affair, 169. The Epicurean philosophy rejects the idea of God and of future retribution; this

costs effort; the brutes who never had this idea have advantage over the followers of Epicurus, 170. Intellectual enjoyments greatly superior to sensual pleasures, 171. There is great enjoyment in knowledge, 171. An acquaintance with works of genius affords great pleasure, 172. The mathematics afford unspeakable delight, 173. Instances of this in the cases of Eudoxus, Pythagoras, Archimedes, and others, 174. Such pleasures are far superior and more intense than sensual enjoyments, 174. The Epicurean philosophy eschews these higher and purer delights, 175; and in old age it has nothing left, 176. Epicurus disallows music, 177, 178. He would deprive the mind of its own proper good, and drag it down to the level of the body, 179. The highest good consists in action, 180; especially beneficent action, 180, 181. The pleasures recognized by Epicureans are base and ignoble, 182. They make the stomach the centre, 183. A noble nature despises such pleasures, 184, 185. Great and generous actions are never forgotten, 186; but the memory of sensual gratification

is transient, 186. A good reputation affords high satisfaction, 187. This cannot be enjoyed by idle and debauched persons, 188. The Epicureans leave us no hope from God, 189. The fear and worship of God, even when joined with superstition, keep down wickedness and afford much pleasure, 190. This pleasure is shared alike by rich and poor, 191; but Epicureans deny it to themselves, 191. The Deity can neither do nor suffer wrong, 192. Therefore a friend of God must be happy, 193. Of such a satisfaction the followers of Epicurus would deprive us, 194. According to them, death is the extinction of our being,—a gloomy prospect, 195. All men shrink at the idea of annihilation, 197. A dark hereafter is better than none, 198. Epicureanism extinguishes hope and virtue, 199. The hope of another and better life gives additional comfort to the present, 200. Of all this hope and enjoyment the Epicurean doctrine deprives us, and thus debases and contracts our nature, 202, 203.

1. Why do the Romans require a new-married woman to touch fire and water? 204. 2. Why do they light, at nuptials, five torches? 204. 3, 4. Questions about Diana’s temples, 205. 5. Why do persons falsely reported as dead, on their return home from foreign parts, not enter by the door? 206. 6. Why do women kiss their relations? 207. 7. Why are husbands and wives forbidden to receive presents from each other? 208. 8. Why may they not receive a gift from a son-in-law or father-in-law? 209. 9. Why do husbands returning from remote parts send to acquaint their wives of their approach? 209. 10. Why do men in divine service cover their heads, &c.? 209. 11. Why do they sacrifice to Saturn with head uncovered? 210. 12. Why do they esteem Saturn the father of truth? 211. 13. Why do they sacrifice to Honor bareheaded? 211. 14. Why do sons appear at their parents’ funerals with covered heads, &c.? 211. 15. Why do Romans not sacrifice to the god Terminus? 212. 16. Why must not maid-servants enter the temple of Matuta? 212. 17. Why do not women supplicate this goddess in behalf

of their children? 213. 18. Why do the rich pay tithes to Hercules? 213. 19. Why does the Roman year begin in January? 213. 20. Why is not myrtle brought into the temple of Bona Dea? 214. 21. Why is worship paid to the woodpecker? 215. 22. Why is Janus described as double-faced? 215. 23. Why are funeral things sold in the temple of Venus Libitina? 216. 24. Explain the Kalends, Nones, and Ides, 216. 25. Why are the days after the Kalends, Nones, and Ides, considered unlucky? 217. 26. Why is white sometimes worn as a sign of mourning? 219. 27. Why are walls reputed sacred but not the gates? 219. 28. Why are children forbidden to swear by Hercules within doors? 220. 29. Why must not the new-married woman step over the threshold but be carried? 221. 30. Why is she to say, “Where thou art Caius, I am Caia”? 221. 31. Why is the name Thalassius sung at nuptials? 221. 32. Why are effigies of men, in some cases, called Argives? 222. 33. Why did not men in ancient times sup abroad without their sons? 222. 34. Why were funeral rites performed in December instead of

February? 223. 35. Why is worship paid to the harlot Laurentia? 223. 36. Why is one gate at Rome known as the Window? 224. 37. Why are spoils taken in war allowed to decay? 225. 38. Why was divination prohibited after the month of August? 225. 39. Why is it unlawful for a man not yet mustered into the army to slay an enemy? 226. 40. Why was it unlawful to anoint a priest of Jupiter in the open air? 226. 41. Why on the ancient coin was Janus stamped, with a ship on the reverse? 228. 42. Why is the temple of Saturn used as the public treasury? 228. 43. Why must ambassadors go to Saturn’s temple, and be there registered? 229. 44. Why must not priests of Jupiter swear? 229. 45. Why at the feast of Venus is wine so freely used? 230. 46. Why would the ancients have the temple of Horta to stand always open? 230. 47. Why did Romulus build the temple of Vulcan without the city? 231. 48. Why were garlands used in the Consualia? 231. 49. Why did candidates for office appear without tunics? 232. 50. Why did the priest of Jupiter, on the death of his wife, resign his office? 232.

51. Why is a dog set before the Lares, and why are the Lares covered with dogs’ skins? 233. 52. Why is a dog sacrificed to Geneta, &c.? 233. 53. Why, at the Capitoline games, are Sardians offered for sale by a crier? 234. 54. Why is the flesh-market called Macellum? 234. 55. Why do the minstrels wear women’s apparel on the Ides of January? 234. 56. Why is it supposed that matrons built the temple of Carmenta? 235. 57. Why is milk plentifully used in the women’s sacrifice to Rumina? 236. 58. Why are some senators called Patres, and others Patres Conscripti? 236. 59. Why was one altar common to Hercules and the Muses? 236. 60. Why, of the two altars of Hercules, do the women not partake of the greater? 237. 61. Why is the name of the tutelary god of Rome not allowed to be mentioned? 237. 62. Why of the Feciales was the Pater Patratus accounted the chief? 238. 63. Why is the Rex Sacrorum forbidden to bear civil office? 238. 64. Why after eating must something always be left on the table? 239. 65. The first congress with a wife, why must it be in the dark? 239.

66. Why was a horse-race round called Flaminia? 239. 67. Whence the name lictors? 239. 68. Why do the Luperci sacrifice a dog? 240. 69. Why upon the Septimontium are chariots not drawn by a pair of horses? 240. 70. Why are convicted thieves called Furciferi? 241. 71. Why is hay bound to the horns of unruly oxen? 241. 72. Why must the lanterns of soothsayers be open at the top? 242. 73. Why were priests, afflicted with sores, forbidden to use divination? 242. 74. Why did Servius Tullius build a temple of Small Fortune? 243. 75. Why did the Romans not extinguish a candle? 243. 76. Why were little moons worn on the shoes? 244. 77. Why was the year Jupiter’s, but the month Juno’s? 244. 78. Why in soothsaying is sinister fortunate? 245. 79. Why might the bones of one who had triumphed be brought into the city? 246. 80. Why were the consuls requested not to come to the supper of the triumpher? 246. 81. Why did not the tribune wear purple? 246. 82. Why, before the chief officers, were the axes carried bound up in rods? 247. 83. Why did the Romans forbid a human

sacrifice to barbarians, and offer one themselves? 248. 84. Why does the Roman day begin at midnight? 249. 85. Why of old were women not suffered to grind or to cook? 250. 86. Why are there no marriages in May? 250. 87. Why is the hair of a bride parted with a spear? 251. 88. Why is the money for public plays called lucar? 251. 89. Why is the Quirinalia called the Feast of Fools? 251. 90. Why, at a sacrifice to Hercules, was no other god mentioned, &c.? 252. 91. Why might not patricians dwell about the Capitol? 252. 92. Why is a garland of oak-leaves put on him who saves a citizen in battle? 252. 93. Why are vultures used in soothsaying? 253. 94. Why is the temple of Aesculapius placed without the city? 254. 95. Why must chaste people abstain from pulse? 254. 96. Why are Vestal Virgins, when unchaste, buried alive? 254. 97. Why, at a horse-race, is the winning horse sacrificed to Mars, &c.? 255. 98. Why do the censors begin their official work by feeding the sacred geese? 255. 99. Why are augurs never deprived of office? 256. 100. Why, at the Ides of

August, do the servants feast and the free-women wait on them? 257. 101. Why are boys decorated with the necklace called bulla? 257. 102. Why do boys receive names at nine days old, and girls at eight? 258. 103. Why are those whose fathers are not known called Spurius? 258. 104. Why was Bacchus called Liber Pater? 259. 105. Why are widows married on holidays, but not virgins? 259. 106. Why do the Romans worship Fortuna Primigenia? 260. 107. Whence the term histriones? 260. 108. Why are marriages between persons near akin not practised? 260. 109. Why must not the chief priest of Jupiter touch meal or leaven? 261. 110. Why is he forbidden to touch raw flesh? 261. 111. Why is he forbidden to touch or name dog or goat? 262. 112. Why is he forbidden to touch ivy, or to pass under vine branches? 263. 113. Why is he forbidden to bear civil office? 264.

1. Who are they at Epidaurus called Κονίποδες and Ἄρτυνοι? 265. 2. What woman did the Cumans call Onobatis? 265. 3. Who is the Ὑπεκκαύστρια among the Solenses? 266. 4. Who are the Ἀμνήμονες among the Cnidians, and who is the Ἀφεστήρ? 266. 5. Who were the Χρηστοί among the Arcadians and Lacedaemonians? 266. 6. Who is Κριθολόγος among the Opuntians? 266. 7. What sort of clouds are the Ploiades? 266. 8. Who is called Platychaetas among the Boeotians? 267. 9. Who at Delphi is called Ὁσιωτήρ? 267. 10. What is Phyxemelum? 268. 11. Who are the Ἀποσφενδόνητοι? 268. 12. What was Charila among the Delphians? 268. 13. What is the beggars’ meat among the Aenianes? 270. 14. Who were the Coliads among the Ithacans? what was a φάγιλος? 271. 15. What is the wooden dog among the Locrians? 271. 16. What thing do the Megarians call ἀφάβρωμα? 272. 17. Who was called δορύξενος? 272. 18. What is παλιντοκία? 273. 19. What is the