Sec. XXIII. Nevertheless this is one of the least of the evils of talkativeness, and we ought even to try and divert it into such channels as these, for prating is less of a nuisance when it is on some literary subject. We ought also to try and get some persons to write on some topic, and so discuss it by themselves. For Antipater the Stoic philosopher,[607] not being able or willing it seems to dispute with Carneades, who inveighed vehemently against the Stoic philosophy, writing and filling many books of controversy against him, got the nickname of _Noisy-with-the-pen_; and perhaps the exercise and excitement of writing, keeping him very much apart from the community, might make the talkative man by degrees better company to those he associated with; as dogs, bestowing their rage on sticks and stones, are less savage to men. It will also be very advantageous for such to mix with people better and older than themselves, for they will accustom themselves to be silent by standing in awe of their reputation. And withal it will be well, when we are going to say something, and the words are on our lips, to reflect and consider, "What is this word that is so eager for utterance? To what is this tongue marching? What good will come of speaking now, or what harm of silence?" For we ought not to drop words as we should a burden that pressed upon us, for the word remains still after it has been spoken just the same; but men speak either on their own behalf if they want something, or to benefit those that hear them, or, to gratify one another, they season everyday life with speech, as one seasons food with salt. But if words are neither useful to the speaker, nor necessary for the hearer, nor contain any pleasure or charm, why are they spoken? For words may be idle and useless as well as deeds. And besides all this we must ever remember as most important the dictum of Simonides, that he had often repented he had spoken, but never that he had been silent: while as to the power and strength of practice consider how men by much toil and painstaking will get rid even of a cough or hiccough. And silence is not only never thirsty, as Hippocrates says, but also never brings pain or sorrow.
[541] Or _Garrulity_, _Chattering_, _Prating_. It is Talkativeness in a bad sense.
[542] Or _Heptaphonos_. See Pausanias, v. 21.
[543] Some unknown poet's words. I suppose they mean driving one mad, making one "Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh."
[544] So our English proverb, "Empty vessels make the greatest sound."
[545] Literally in a semi-circular place. It is not quite clear whether the front seats of the theatre are meant, or, as I have taken it, more generally, of some public place for entertainment or meeting, some promenade or piazza.
[546] Reading [Greek: akouein], which seems far the best reading.
[547] Homer, "Iliad," v. 226; "Odyssey," vi. 81.
[548] "Bacchae," 385-387.
[549] See Ovid, "Tristia," iv. 4, 55-58.
[550] For example, Horace, "Epistles," i. 2, 62: "Ira furor brevis est" I read [Greek: homotoichos] with Mez.
[551] Homer, "Odyssey," xiv. 463-465.
[552] Ibid. 466.
[553] Compare the German proverb, "Thought when sober, said when drunk"--"Nuchtern gedacht, voll gesagt."
[554] Cf. Quintilian, x. 1, 78: "His aetate Lysias major, subtilis atque elegans et quo nihil, si oratori satis est docere, quaeras perfectius. Nihil enim est inane, nihil arcessitum; puro tamen fonti quam magno flumini propior." Cf. ix. 4, 17.
[555] Somewhat like Pindar, "Pyth." i. 1. 1, 2.
[556] "Odyssey," xii. 452, 453.
[557] See Cicero, "Ad Fam." vii. 18; Catullus, xxii. 5, 6.
[558] See "Iliad," xiv. 214-217.
[559] "Allusio ad Homericum [Greek: epei ponos allos epeigei.]"--_Xylander._
[560] "Laws," xi. p. 935 A.
[561] So true are the words of AEschylus, [Greek: glosse mataia zemia prostribetai].--"Prom." 329.
[562] Our "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
[563] "Non Citticus, sed Eleates. v. Cic. Tuscul. ii. 22, et Nat. Deor. 3, 33."--_Reiske._
[564] See Pausanias, i. 23. Leaena means "lioness." On the conspiracy see Thucydides, vi. 54-59.
[565] Homer, "Odyssey," xix. 494. Plutarch quotes from memory. The nurse's name was Euryclea.
[566] Odyssey," xix. 210-212. Quoted again "On Moral Virtue," Sec. iv.
[567] Literally _bark_. See "Odyssey," xx. 13, 16.
[568] "Odyssey," xx. 23.
[569] See "Odyssey," ix. [Greek: Kyklopeia].
[570] Euripides, "Ino." Fragment, 416.
[571] "Significat Q. Caecilium Metellum, de quo Liv. xl. 45, 46."--_Reiske._
[572] Euripides, "Ino." Fragm. 415. Compare St. James, iii. 5, 6.
[573] Fabius Maximus. So Tacitus, "Annals," i. 5, who relates this story somewhat differently.
[574] See Tacitus, "Annals," i. 3. As to his fate, see "Annals," i. 6.
[575] Tiberius Nero, who actually did succeed Augustus.
[576] The Emperor's wife.
[577] So it is in Sec. xii. But perhaps here it means, "I wish you had more sense, Fabius!"
[578] Adopting the reading of Reiske.
[579] Reading [Greek: phorutou] or [Greek: phoryton], as Wyttenbach.
[580] Reading [Greek: katechein dynantai] with Reiske.
[581] See Sophocles, Fragm. 162.
[582] Homer, "Iliad," x. 457.
[583] Compare "Moralia," p. 177 A; Horace, "Satires," i. 7. 3: "Omnibus et lippis notum et tonsoribus."
[584] Homer, "Iliad," xxii. 207.
[585] Sophocles, "Antigone," 317-319.
[586] See Pausanias, iii. 17; iv. 15; x. 5.
[587] Compare the idea of the people of Melita, Acts xxviii. 4.
[588] An Allusion to Dolon in Homer, "Iliad," x., 374, sq. according to Xylander.
[589] Quoted again by our author in his "Publicola," p. 105 B., and assigned to Epicharmus.
[590] So Shakspere has taught us, "Brevity is the soul of wit."--_Hamlet_, Act ii Sc. 2.
[591] "In Protagora."--_Xylander._
[592] That is, is all kernel. See passim our author's "Apophthegmata Laconica."
[593] Or, _apophthegmatic nature_.
[594] Dionysius the younger, tyrant of Syracuse, was expelled, and afterwards kept a school at Corinth. That is the allusion. It would be like saying "Remember Napoleon at St. Helena."
[595] See Pausanias, x. 24.
[596] See Plato, "Charmides," 165 A.
[597] A title applied to Apollo first by Herodotus, i. 91, from his ambiguous ([Greek: loxa]) oracles.
[598] Part of the words of an oracle of the Pythian Priestess, slightly changed. The whole oracle may be seen in Herodotus, i. 47.
[599] Proverb of cross purposes.
[600] Reading [Greek: exerasthai] with Duebner.
[601] Catullus calls him "tumidus," _i.e._ long-winded, 95, 10. See also Propertius, iii. 34-32. He was a Greek poet, a contemporary of Socrates and Plato, and author of a Thebaid. Pausanias mentions him, viii. 25; ix. 35.
[602] The mediaeval proverb, _Ubi dolor ibi digitus_.
[603] A proverbial expression for having no judgment. See Sophocles, Fragm. 307; Plato, "Charmides," 154 B; Erasmus, "Adagia." So we say a person's mind is a blank sheet on a subject he knows nothing about.
[604] Euripides, Fragm. 202. Quoted also by Plato, "Gorgias," 484 E.
[605] Reading with Reiske, [Greek: misthon auto dounai to mikron siopesai me dynamenos].
[606] A celebrated Greek historian, and pupil of Isocrates. See Cicero, "De Oratore," ii. 13.
[607] Of Tarsus. See Cicero, "De Officiis," iii. 12.
ON CURIOSITY.[608]
Sec. I. If a house is dark, or has little air, is in an exposed position, or unhealthy, the best thing will probably be to leave it; but if one is attached to it from long residence in it, one can improve it and make it more light and airy and healthy by altering the position of the windows and stairs, and by throwing open new doors and shutting up old ones. So some towns have been altered for the better, as my native place,[609] which did lie to the west and received the rays of the setting sun from Parnassus, was they say turned to the east by Chaeron. And Empedocles the naturalist is supposed to have driven away the pestilence from that district, by having closed up a mountain gorge that was prejudicial to health by admitting the south wind to the plains. Similarly, as there are certain diseases of the soul that are injurious and harmful and bring storm and darkness to it, the best thing will be to eject them and lay them low by giving them open sky, pure air and light, or, if that cannot be, to change and improve them some way or other. One such mental disease, that immediately suggests itself to one, is curiosity, the desire to know other people's troubles, a disease that seems neither free from envy nor malignity.
"Malignant wretch, why art so keen to mark Thy neighbour's fault, and seest not thine own?"[610]
Shift your view, and turn your curiosity so as to look inwards: if you delight to study the history of evils, you have copious material at home, "as much as there is water in the Alizon, or leaves on the oak," such a quantity of faults will you find in your own life, and passions in your soul, and shortcomings in your duty. For as Xenophon says[611] good managers have one place for the vessels they use in sacrificing, and another for those they use at meals, one place for their farm instruments, and another for their weapons of war, so your faults arise from different causes, some from envy, some from jealousy, some from cowardice, some from meanness. Review these, consider these; bar up the curiosity that pries into your neighbours' windows and passages, and open it on the men's apartments, and women's apartments, and servant's attics, in your own house. There this inquisitiveness and curiosity will find full vent, in inquiries that will not be useless or malicious, but advantageous and serviceable, each one saying to himself,