Part 4

Let no one curse him by whom he has been injured. For praise is more divine than defamation.

Let him be thought to be a better citizen who is superior to anger, than him who is an offender through it.

Let not him be praised but disgraced, who, in the sumptuousness of his expence, surpasses temples and palaces. For let nothing private be more magnificent and venerable than things of a public nature.

Let him who is a slave to wealth and money be despised, as one who is pusillanimous and illiberal, and is astonished by sumptuous possessions, and let him be considered as one who leads a tragical life, and whose soul is vile. For he who is magnanimous foresees with himself all human concerns, and is not disturbed by any thing of this kind [whether prosperous or adverse], when it accedes.

Let no one speak obscenely, in order that he may not in his thoughts approach to base deeds, and that he may not fill his soul with impudence and defilement. For we call things which are decorous and lovely, by their proper names, and by those appellations which are established by law. But we abstain from naming things to which we are hostile, on account of their baseness. Let it also be considered as base, to speak of a base thing.

Let every one dearly love his lawful wife, and beget children from her. But let no one emit the seed of his children into any other person; nor let him illegally consume that which is honourable both by nature and law, and act with wanton insolence. For nature produced the seed, for the sake of procreating children, and not for the sake of lust.

But it is requisite that a wife should be chaste, and should not admit the impious connection with other men, as by so doing she will subject herself to the vengeance of the dæmons, whose office it is to expel those to whom they are hostile from their houses, and to produce hatred.

Let not him be praised who gives a stepmother to his children, but disgraced, as being the cause of domestic dissension.

And as it is proper to observe these mandates, let him who transgresses them be obnoxious to political execration.

The law also orders that these proems should be known by all the citizens, and should be read in festivals after the pæans by him who is appointed for this purpose by the master of the feast, in order that the precepts may be inserted in the minds of all that hear them.

THE PREFACE OF ZALEUCUS, THE LOCRIAN, TO HIS LAWS.

It is requisite that all those who inhabit a city and country should in the first place be firmly persuaded that there are Gods, in consequence of directing their attention to the heavens and the world, and the orderly distribution of the natures which they contain. For these are not the productions either of fortune or of men. It is also requisite to reverence and honour these, as the causes to us of every reasonable good. It is necessary, therefore, that every one should so prepare his soul that it may be free from every vice; since God is not honoured by a bad man, nor is he to be worshiped sumptuously, nor with tragical expence, like some depraved man; but by virtue, and the deliberate choice of beautiful and just deeds. Hence it is necessary that every one should be good to the utmost of his power, both in his actions and his deliberate choice, if he wishes to be dear to divinity, and should not fear the loss of money more than the loss of renown. And it is also requisite to call him a better citizen who would rather sustain a loss of property than of probity and justice.

Let, however, such things as the following be denounced by us against those who are not easily impelled to do what we have above enjoined, but whose soul is easily excited to injustice. All citizens of this kind, both male and female, and also those who live in the same house with them, should remember that there are Gods who punish the unjust, and should place before their eyes that time in which to every one there will be a final liberation from life. For all such will repent when they are about to die, from a remembrance of their unjust deeds, and from their being impelled to wish that all things had been done by them justly. Hence it is necessary that every one, in every action, should always associate to himself this time, as if it were present: for thus he will especially pay attention to probity and justice. But if an evil dæmon is present with any one, converting him to injustice, such a one should abide in temples, at altars, and in sacred groves, flying from injustice as a most impious and noxious mistress, and supplicating the Gods to cooperate with him in turning from it. He should also accede to those men who are renowned for their probity, in order to hear them discourse about a blessed life, and the punishment of bad men, that he may be deterred from unjust deeds; but he should only dread avenging dæmons. Those, likewise, that dwell in the city, should honour all the Gods according to the legal rites of the country, which are to be considered as the most beautiful of all others. All the citizens, too, should obey the laws, reverence the rulers, and rise to them, and comply with their mandates. For after the Gods, dæmons, and heroes, proximate honours are paid by men who are intelligent, and wish to be saved, to parents, the laws, and the rulers. Let, however, no one make the city to be dearer to him than his country, since he will thus excite the indignation of the Gods of the country: for such conduct is the beginning of treachery. And farther still, for a man to be deprived of his own country, and to live in a foreign land, is a thing of a more afflictive nature, and more difficult to be borne [than most other misfortunes]: for nothing is more allied to us than our country. Nor let any one think that a citizen, whom the laws have permitted to partake of the polity, should be considered by him as an implacable enemy; since a man who is capable of thus thinking can neither govern nor judge in a proper manner, in consequence of his anger predominating over his reason. Let no one, likewise, speak ill either of the city in common, or of a citizen privately. But let the guardians of the laws keep a watchful eye over offenders, in the first place by admonishing them; and in the next place, if they are not restrained by this from acting ill, let them be careful that they are punished. And with respect to the established laws, if some one of them should appear not to be well ordained, let it be changed into one that is better. But where all of them remain, let them be [universally] obeyed; as it is neither beautiful, nor beneficial, for the established laws to be vanquished by men; though it is both profitable and beautiful, to be restrained, as if vanquished, by a more excellent law. It is requisite, however, to punish those who transgress these, as machinating for the city the principle of the greatest evils anarchy. But the magistrates should neither be arrogant, nor judge insultingly, nor in passing sentence be mindful either of friendship or hatred, but of what is just. For thus they will decide most justly, and will be worthy of the magistracy. It is fit, therefore, that slaves should do what is just through fear, but those that are free, through shame, and for the sake of the beautiful in conduct. Hence it is requisite that the governors should be men of this kind, in order that they may be reverenced by those whom they govern. But if any one wishes to change some one of the established laws, or to introduce another law, let him, with a halter about his neck, speak of the subject of his wishes to the people. And if it shall appear from the suffrages, that the law already established should be dissolved, or that a new law should be introduced, let him not be punished. But if it should be thought that the preexisting law is better, or that the law which is intended to be introduced is unjust, let him who wishes to change an old, or to introduce a new law, be executed by the halter.

FROM THE TREATISE OF CALLICRATIDAS ON THE FELICITY OF FAMILIES.

The universe must be considered as a system of kindred communion or association. But every system consists of certain dissimilar contraries, and is coarranged with reference to one certain thing, which is the most excellent, and also with a view to a general benefit. For that which is denominated a choir, is a system of musical communion, and is referred to one certain common thing, a concert of voices. Farther still, the system of body about a ship consists of certain dissimilar and contrary things, and is coarranged with reference to one thing which is best, viz. the pilot, and also with a view to a common benefit, a prosperous navigation. Thus, too, a family, being a system of kindred communion, consists of certain dissimilars, which are its proper parts; and is coarranged with a view to one thing which is best, viz. the father of the family; and is referred to a common advantage, unanimity. And, in short, every family, in the same manner as a psaltery, requires these three things, apparatus, coadaptation, and a certain contrectation, and musical use. Apparatus, indeed, being the composition of all its parts, from which the whole, and all the system of kindred communion derives its completion. But of the parts of a family there are two first and greatest divisions; viz. man and possessions, the latter of which is the thing governed, and affords utility. Thus, also, the first and greatest parts of an animal are soul and body; and soul, indeed, is that which governs and uses, but the body is that which is governed, and imparts utility. And possessions, indeed, are the adscititious instruments of human life; but the body is the connascent and allied instrument of the soul. Of those persons, however, that give completion to a family, some are consanguineous, but others have an affinity to the family. And those that are kindred are generated from the same blood, or have the same origin from those who first disseminated the race. But those that have an affinity have an adscititious alliance, as commencing from the communion of wedlock. And these are either fathers or brothers, or maternal or paternal grandfathers, or some other of those relatives that are produced by marriage. But if the good arising from friendship is also to be referred to a family (for thus it will become greater and more magnificent, not only through an abundance of wealth and many relations, but also through numerous friends); in this case it is evident, that the family will thus become more ample, and that the social species of friendship is to be enumerated among things which are requisite to the completion of a family. But of possessions some are necessary, and others are of a liberal nature. And the necessary, indeed, are those which are subservient to the wants of life; and the liberal are such as lead a man to an elegant and well arranged mode of living, so that he may not be in want of other things. Such things, however, as exceed what is requisite to a liberal and elegant mode of life, are, at the beginning, the roots to men of wanton insolence, and destruction. For those that have great possessions are necessarily at first inflated with pride, and when thus inflated become arrogant; and, being arrogant, they also become fastidious, and conceive that their kindred, and those of the same nation and tribe with themselves, neither resemble, nor are equal to them. But when they are fastidious, they also become wantonly insolent. And the extremity and end of all wanton insolence is destruction. When, therefore, in a family and city there is a superfluity of possessions, it is necessary that the legislator should cut off, and, as it were, amputate the superfluities, in the same manner as a good husbandman lops the too luxuriant leaves of trees. But of the kindred and domestic part of man there is a triple species. For there is one species which governs, another which is governed, and another which gives assistance to a family and relatives. And the husband, indeed, governs, but the wife is governed, and the offspring of both these is an auxiliary.

AND IN ANOTHER PART OF THE SAME WORK.

With respect also to practical and rational domination, one kind is despotic, another is of a guardian nature, and another is political. And the despotic, indeed, is that which governs with a view to the advantage of the governor, and not of the governed. For after this manner a master rules over his slaves, and a tyrant over his subjects. But the guardian domination subsists for the sake of the governed, and not for the sake of those that govern. And with this kind of power the anointers rule over the athletæ, physicians over the sick, and preceptors over their pupils. For their labours are not directed to their own advantage, but to the benefit of those whom they govern; those of the physician being undertaken for the sake of the sick, the anointers for the sake of exercising the body, and those of the erudite for the sake of the inerudite. But the political domination has for its end the common benefit both of the governors and the governed. For according to this domination, in human affairs, both a family and a city are coharmonized; but in things of a divine nature the world is aptly composed. A family, however, and a city are an imitation according to analogy of the government of the world. For divinity is the principle of nature, and his attention is neither directed to his own advantage, nor to private, but to public good. And on this account, the world is called κοσμος, from the orderly disposition of all things which are coarranged with reference to one thing which is most excellent, and this is God, who is, according to conception, an intellectual animal, incorruptible, and the principle and cause of the orderly disposition of wholes. Since, therefore, the husband rules over the wife, he either rules with a despotic, or with a guardian, or, in the last place, with a political power. But he does not rule over her with a despotic power: for he is diligently attentive to her welfare. Nor is his government of her entirely of a guardian nature: for this is itself a part of the communion [between man and wife]. It remains, therefore, that he rules over her with a political power, according to which both the governor and the thing governed establish [as their end] the common advantage. Hence, also, wedlock is established with a view to the communion of life. Those husbands, therefore, that govern their wives despotically, are hated by them; but those that govern them with a guardian authority are despised by them. For they appear to be, as it were, appendages and flatterers of their wives. But those that govern them politically are both admired and beloved. And both these will be effected, if he who governs exercises his power so that it may be mingled with pleasure and veneration; pleasure indeed being produced by his fondness, but veneration from his doing nothing of a vile or abject nature.

AND AGAIN, IN ANOTHER PART OF THE SAME WORK.

He who wishes to marry ought to take for a wife one whose fortune is conformable to his own, in order that he may not contract nuptials either above or beneath his condition, but analogous to the property which he possesses. For those who marry a woman above their condition have to contend for the mastership; for the wife, surpassing her husband in wealth and lineage, wishes to rule over him; but he considers it to be unworthy of him, and preternatural to submit to his wife. But those who marry a woman beneath their condition subvert the dignity and splendour of their family. It is necessary, however, on this occasion to imitate the musician, who, having learned the proper tone of his voice, endeavours to bring it to such a medium that it may be rendered sufficiently sharp and flat, and may be neither broken, nor lose its intenseness. Thus, therefore, it is necessary that wedlock should be coadapted to the peculiar tone of the soul, so that the husband and wife may not only accord with each other in prosperous, but also in adverse fortune. It is requisite, therefore, that the husband should be the regulator, master, and preceptor of his wife. The regulator, indeed, in paying diligent attention to her affairs; but the master, in governing and exercising authority over her; and the preceptor in teaching her such things as it is fit for her to know. This, however, will be especially effected by him who, directing his attention to worthy parents, marries from their family a virgin in the flower of her youth. For such virgins are easily fashioned, and are docile; and are also naturally well disposed to be instructed by, and to fear and love their husbands.

FROM THE TREATISE OF PERICTYONE ON THE DUTIES OF A WOMAN.

It is necessary that a woman should sufficiently possess a harmony full of prudence and temperance. For it is requisite that her soul should be vehemently inclined to the acquisition of virtue; so that she may be just, brave, and prudent, and may be adorned with frugality, and hate vainglory. For, from the possession of these virtues, she will act worthily when she becomes a wife, towards herself, her husband, her children, and her family. Frequently, also, such a woman will act beautifully towards cities, if she happens to rule over cities or nations, as we see is [sometimes] the case in a kingdom. If, therefore, she subdues desire and anger, a divine harmony will be produced. Hence she will not be pursued by illegal loves, but she will love her husband, her children, and all her family. For such women as are fond of being connected with other men besides their husbands, become hostile to the whole of their families, both to those branches of it that are free, and those that are slaves. They also machinate stratagems against their husbands, and falsely represent them as the calumniators of all their acquaintance, in order that they alone may appear to be exceedingly benevolent; and they govern their families in such a way as may be expected from those that are lovers of indolence. For from such conduct the destruction ensues of every thing which is common to the husband and wife. And thus much as to these particulars.

It is also requisite to lead the body to what is naturally moderate, with respect to nutriment, clothes, bathing, anointing, dressing the hair, and to whatever pertains to decoration from gold and jewels. For whatever of a sumptuous nature is employed by women in eating and drinking, in garments and trinkets, renders them disposed to be guilty of every crime, and to be unjust both to their husband’s bed, and to every other person. It is requisite, therefore, that they should only satisfy hunger and thirst, and this from things easily procured; and that they should defend themselves from cold by garments of the simplest kind. But to be fed with things which are brought from a distant country, or which are obtained at a great price, is no small vice. It is also great folly to search after exceedingly elegant garments, which are variegated with purple, or any other precious colour. For the body wishes to be neither cold nor naked, but to be covered for the sake of decorum, and is not [externally] in want of any thing else. The opinion of men, however, in conjunction with ignorance, proceeds to inanities and superfluities. Hence a woman should neither be decorated with gold, nor with Indian gems, nor with the jewels of any other nation, nor plait her hair with abundance of art, nor be perfumed with Arabian unguents, nor paint her face so that it may be more white or more red, nor give a dark tinge to her eyebrows and her eyes, nor artificially dye her gray hairs, nor frequently bathe. For the woman who seeks after things of this kind searches for a spectator of female intemperance. For the beauty which is produced by prudence, and not by these particulars, pleases women that are well born. Nor should she conceive that nobility and wealth, the being born in a great city, glory, and the friendship of renowned and royal men, are to be ranked among things that are necessary. For if they happen to be present, they should not be the cause to her of any molestation; and if they should not be present, she should not regret their absence. For a prudent woman will not be prevented from living [properly] without these. And if those great and much admired things which we have mentioned should not be present, her soul should not anxiously explore, but withdraw itself from them. For in consequence of drawing their possessor to misfortune, they are more noxious than beneficial. For to these, treachery, envy, and calumny are adjacent, so that such a woman cannot be free from perturbation.

It is also necessary that she should venerate the Gods through good hope of obtaining felicity by this veneration, and by obeying the laws and sacred institutions of her country. But after the Gods, I say, that she should honour and venerate her parents. For these cooperate with the Gods in benefiting their children. Moreover, she ought to live with her husband legally and kindly, conceiving nothing to be her own property, but preserving and being the guardian of his bed. For in the preservation of this all things are contained. It is likewise requisite that she should bear every thing [in a becoming manner] which may happen to her husband, whether he is unfortunate in his affairs, or acts erroneously through ignorance, or disease, or intoxication, or from having connection with other women. For this last error is granted to men; but not to women, since they are punished for this offence. It is necessary, therefore, that she should submit to the law with equanimity, and not be jealous. She ought likewise to bear patiently his anger, his parsimony, and the complaints which he may make of his destiny, his jealousy, and his accusation of her, and whatever other faults he may inherit from nature. For all these she should cheerfully endure, conducting herself towards him with prudence and modesty. For a wife who is dear to her husband, and who truly performs her duty towards him, is a [domestic] harmony, and loves the whole of her family, to which also she conciliates the benevolence of strangers. If, however, she neither loves her husband nor her children, nor her servants, nor wishes to see any sacrifice preserved; then she becomes the leader of every kind of destruction, which she likewise prays for, as being an enemy, and also prays for the death of her husband, as being hostile to him, in order that she may be connected with other men; and, in the last place, she hates whatever her husband loves. But it appears to me that a wife will be a [domestic] harmony, if she is full of prudence and modesty. For then she will not only love her husband, but also her children, her kindred, her servants, and the whole of her family, in which possessions, friends, citizens, and strangers are contained. She will likewise adorn the bodies of these without any superfluous ornaments, and will both speak and hear such things only as are beautiful and good. It is also requisite that she should act conformably to her husband’s opinion in what pertains to their common life, and be satisfied with those relatives and friends that meet with his approbation. And she will conceive these things to be pleasant and disagreeable which are thought to be so by her husband, unless she is entirely destitute of harmony.

FROM THE TREATISE OF PERICTYONE ON THE HARMONY OF A WOMAN.

Parents ought not to be injured either in word or deed; but it is requisite to be obedient to them, whether their rank in life is small or great. And in every allotted condition of soul and body, and of external circumstances, in peace, also, and war, in health [and sickness], in riches and in poverty, in renown and ignominy, and whether they are of the same class with most of the community, or are magistrates, it is necessary to be present with, and never to forsake them, and almost to submit to them even when they are insane. For such conduct will be wisely and cheerfully adopted by those that are pious. But he who despises his parents will, both among the living and the dead, be condemned for this crime by the Gods, will be hated by men, and under the earth will, together with the impious, be eternally punished in the same place by Justice, and the subterranean Gods, whose province it is to inspect things of this kind. For the aspect of parents is a thing divine and beautiful, and a diligent observance of them is attended with a delight such as neither the survey of the sun, nor of all the stars which dance round the illuminated heavens, is capable of producing, nor any other spectacle, should it even be greater than this. And, it appears to me, that the Gods are not envious when they perceive that this takes place. Hence it is requisite to reverence parents both while they are living, and when they are dead, and never oppose them in any thing they may say or do. If also they are ignorant of any thing through deception or disease, their children should console and instruct, but by no means hate them on this account. For no greater error and injustice can be committed by men than to act impiously towards their parents.

ON THE REVERENCE DUE TO PARENTS. FROM THE APOPHTHEGMS OF ARISTOXENUS, THE TARENTINE.

After divinity and demons, the greatest attention should be paid to parents and the laws; not fictitiously, but in reality preparing ourselves to an observance of, and perseverance in, the manners and laws of our country, though they should be in a small degree worse than those of other countries.

AND IN THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE SAME WORK.