3 stances to keep cheerful.1 Come what may, there is a bright side to things, and he knows how to wear the beggar's rags and the robe of state with equal grace. Pleasure he loves, but he can also dispense therewith.1 He will continue master of his desires.5 His temper shall not be ruffled by any risings of passion. Some importance is attached to riches, but hardly any independent value, and therefore the want of them is never felt. He is lavish of them because he does not cling to them. If necessary, he can do without them, and is readily consoled for See pp. 355 and 360. 2 Hor. Ep. i. 17, 23: omnis Aristippum decuit color et status et res, tentantem majora fere, præsentibus æquum. Plut. de Vit. Hom. B., 150: 'Apíoτιππος καὶ πενίᾳ καὶ πόνοις συνηνέχθη ἐῤῥωμένως καὶ ἡδονῇ ἀφειδῶς exphoaTo. Diog. 66. p. 163, 3; 355, 2. 3 According to Diog. 67, Plato is said to have remarked to him : σοὶ μόνῳ δέδοται καὶ χλανίδα φέρειν καὶ ῥάκοs. The same remark, and not the story of the purple dress, is referred to by Plut. Virt. Alex. 8, p. 330: Αρίστιππον θαυμάζομαι τὸν Σωκρατικὸν ὅτι καὶ τρίβωνι λιτῷ καὶ Μιλησίᾳ χλαμυδι χρώμενος δι' ἀμφοτέρων ἐτήρει τὸ εὔσχημον, and Hor. Ep. i. 17, 27, on which passage the Scholiast tells how Aristippus carried off the surcoat of Diogenes from the bath, leaving his purple cloak instead, which Diogenes refused to wear at any price. 4 Diog. 67, p. 363, 4. 7 8 tells a saying of the same kind 6 See p. 360, 2 & 3. Plut. N. P. See p. 347, 1 See p. 363, 4, and the story that he bade his servant who was carrying a heavy burden of gold cast away what was too much for him. Hor. Serm. ii. 3, 99; Diog. 77. • Finding himself on board a СНАР. XIV. СНАР, their loss. To him no possession appears more valuable than contentment,2 no disease worse than avarice.3 He lives an easy life, but he is not on that account afraid of exertion, and approves of bodily exercise.4 His life is that of the flatterer, but he often expresses himself with unexpected candour.5 Freedom he esteems above all things, and hence will neither rule nor be ruled, nor belong to any community, being unwilling to forfeit freedom at any price.7 pirate vessel, he threw his money into the sea with the words: aμevov Tavтa di' 'Apíoτιππον ἢ διὰ ταῦτα ̓Αρίστιππον ἀπολέσθαι. Diog. 77; Cic. Invent. ii. 58, 176; Auson. Idyl. iii. 13; Stob. Floril, 57, 13, taking care to read with Menage and Stein, p. 39, Tò àрyúpiov for ἀγρὸς. In Plut. Tranq. An. 8, p. 469, Aristippus having lost an estate, one of his friends expresses sympathy with him, upon which Aristippus replies: Have I not now three estates, whilst you have only one? Ought I not rather to sympathise with you? 2 Hor. see p. 365, 2, Diog; ii. 72: τὰ ἄριστα ὑπετίθετο τῇ θυγατρὶ 'Αρήτῃ, συνασκῶν αὐτὴν ὑπεροπτικὴν τοῦ πλείονος εἶναι, Hence the same story in Ep. Socrat. 29, the compiler of this late and miserable counterfeit not having used the earlier genuine letters to Aret. mentioned by Suid 'Apíør. • See further details in Plut. Cupid. Div. 3, p. 524. See p. 365, 2, Diog. 91: Thy σωματικὴν ἄσκησιν συμβάλλεσθαι πρὸς ἀρετῆς ἀνάληψιν. 5 Several free expressions of his towards Dionysius are told by Diog, 73, 77; Stob. Floril. 49, 22; conf. Greg. Naz. Carm. ii. 10, 419, vol. ii. 430 Codd.; not to mention the anecdotes in Diog. 75, repeated Ibid. vi. 32; Galen. Exhort. ad Art. c. 8, i. 18, k. On the principle mentioned by Hor. Ep. i. 1, 18: nunc in Aristippi furtim præcepta relabor, et mihi res, non me rebus subjungere conor. According to the context, however, the principle should not be confined to Aristippus' relations to outward possessions. Here, too, the saying belongs Plut. in Hes. 9, vol. xiv. 296, Hu.: σvμβούλου δεῖσθαι χεῖρον εἶναι τοῦ προσαιτεῖν. Conf. p. 363, 3. 7 Xen. Mem. ii. 1, 8. In reply to Socrates, who asked whether he considered himself among the number of those who rule, or those who are ruled, Aristippus states: ἔγωγ ̓ οὐδ ̓ ὅλως γε τάττω ἐμαυτὸν εἰς τὴν τῶν ἄρχειν Bovλoμévæv Táti. For, as is explained here and p. 17, there is no man who is more troubled than a statesman: ἐμαυτὸν τοί Still less did he allow himself to be restrained by religious considerations or traditions. We have at least every reason for asserting this both of Aristippus personally, and of his School. Theodorus was probably the first to gain notoriety for his wanton attacks on the popular faith; still a connection between the Cyrenaic philosophy and the insipid rationalism of Euemerus3 is far from certain. Nor ought it to be forgotten, that Aristippus strove to make life easy not only for himself, but also for νυν τάττω ἐς τοὺς βουλομένους ᾖ ῥᾷστά τε καὶ ἥδιστα βιοτεύειν. When Socrates met this by observing that those who rule are better off than those who are ruled, he rejoined : ἀλλ' ἐγώ τοι οὐδὲ εἰς τὴν δουλείαν αὖ ἐμαυτὸν τάττω· ἀλλ ̓ εἶναί τίς μοι δοκεῖ μέση τούτων ὁδὸς, ἣν πειρῶμαι βαδίζειν, οὔτε δι' ἀρχῆς οὔτε διὰ δουλείας, ἀλλὰ δι' ἐλευθερίας, ἵπερ μάλιστα πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν ἄγει. And after further objections: ἀλλ' ἐγώ τοι, ἵνα μὴ πάσχω ταῦτα, οὐδ ̓ εἰς πολιτείαν ἐμαυτὸν κατα κλείω, ἀλλὰ ξένος πανταχοῦ εἰμι. Quite in keeping with this homeless life is the language used by Aristippus, according to Teles in Stob. Floril. 40, 8, vol. ii. 69, Mein., that to him it was of no moment to die in his country; from every country the way to Hades was the same. His address to Dionysius in Stob. Floril. 49, 22, is also quite in harmony with Xenophon's description: Had you learnt aught from me, you would shake off despotic rule as a disease. Being obliged, however, to live under some form of go vernment, a good one is naturally preferable to a bad one; and accordingly the saying attributed to him in Stob. Floril. 49, 18, touching the difference between a despotic and a monarchical form of government has about it nothing improbable. Nevertheless, at a later period Aristippus may have relaxed his views on civil life to a certain extent. At any rate he formed a connection with a family with which he would previously have nothing to do. Certainly Diog. 81, proves nothing. See p. 341, 4. 1 It was a natural consequence of their scepticism, that they followed Protagoras in his attitude towards religion; and by means of their practical turn that freedom from religious prejudices was decidedly promoted, which they especially required in the wise man. Diog. 91, see p. 360, 2. Clemens, Strom. vii. 722, D., says more generally that they rejected prayer. 2 Particulars of this below. CHAP, XIV. CHAP. XIV. others. Possessed of pleasing and attractive manners, an enemy of vanity and boasting, he could comfort friends with sympathy,3 and bear injuries with calmness. He could avoid strife," mitigate anger, and conciliate an offended friend." The most extraordinary spectacle to his thinking is said to have been a virtuous man steadily pursuing his course in the midst of the vicious; and that such was really his opinion is shown by his reverence for Socrates. It may therefore be true, that he congratulated himself on having become, thanks to Socrates, a man capable of being praised in all good conscience. In a word, with all his love of enjoyment, Aristippus 1 ἥδιστος is the name which Greg. Nuz. 307, gives him, and Ibid. 323, he commends him for τὸ εὐχάριστον τοῦ τρόπου καὶ στρωμύλου. 2 See Arist. Rhet. ii. 23; Diog. 71, 73. See also p. 363, 3. Athen. V. H. vii. 3. mentions a letter of sympathy addressed to some friends, who had met with a severe misfortune. He quotes from the introduction the words: ἀλλ ̓ ἔγωγε ἥκω πρὸς ὑμᾶς οὐχ ὡς συλλυπούμενος ὑμῖν, ἀλλ ̓ ἵνα παύσω ὑμᾶς λυπουμένους. In theory, Aristippus could only estimate the value of friendship by its utility, as Epicurus did at a later time. Diog. 91: Tòr píλov τῆς χρείας ἕνεκα, καὶ γὰρ μέρος σώματος, μέχρις ἂν παρῇ, ἀσπάCereal. Something similar is also found in Socrates, see pp. 151, 3; 222, 3; and he employs the same argument Xen. Mem. i. 2, 54. Plut. Prof. in Virt. 9, p. 80. 5 Diog. 70; Stob. Floril. 19, 6. 6 Stob. Floril. 20, 63. See the adventure with Eschines in Plut. Coh. Ira. 14, p. 462, Diog. 82, which Stob. Flor. 84, 19, probably by mistake, refers to the brother of Aristippus. 8 Stob. Floril. 37, 25: 'Apiστιππος ἐρωτηθεὶς τί ἀξιοθαύμαστόν ἐστιν ἐν τῷ βίῳ; ἄνθρωπος ἐπιεικής, εἶπε, καὶ μέτριος, ὅτι [ὃs or ὅστις?] ἐν πολλοῖς ὑπάρχων μοχθηροῖς οὐ διέστραπται. 9 Which is told by Diog. 71. Few of the anecdotes about Aristippus rest on good authority. Agreeing, however, as they all do, in portraying a certain character, they have been used as the material for a historical sketch. They may be spurious in parts, but on the whole they give a faithful representation of the man. appears to have been a man of high feelings and a From Socrates indeed both are far enough removed. His was a theory of a knowledge of conceptions; theirs a most downright subservience to the senses. His was an insatiable thirsting for know 1 Even Cicero, who is not generally his friend, says (Off. i. 41, 148), that if Socrates or Aristippus placed themselves in antagonism with tradition, they ought not to be imitated therein magnis illi et divinis bonis hanc licentiam assequebantur; and he also quotes (N. D. iii. 31, 77) a saying of the Stoic Aristo : nocere audientibus philosophos iis, qui bene dicta male inter- СНАР. XIV. D. Positheir systion of tem to that of Socrates. |