Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (136 page)

“That leads me to think that he who does not know his own powers is ignorant of himself.”
[26]

“Is it not clear too that through self-knowledge men come to much good, and through self-deception to much harm? For those who know themselves, know what things are expedient for themselves and discern their own powers and limitations. And by doing what they understand, they get what they want and prosper: by refraining from attempting what they do not understand, they make no mistakes and avoid failure. And consequently through their power of testing other men too, and through their intercourse with others, they get what is good and shun what is bad.
[27]
Those who do not know and are deceived in their estimate of their own powers, are in the like condition with regard to other men and other human affairs. They know neither what they want, nor what they do, nor those with whom they have intercourse; but mistaken in all these respects, they miss the good and stumble into the bad.
[28]
Furthermore, those who know what they do win fame and honour by attaining their ends. Their equals are glad to have dealings with them; and those who miss their objects look to them for counsel, look to them for protection, rest on them their hopes of better things, and for all these reasons love them above all other men.
[29]
But those who know not what they do, choose amiss, fail in what they attempt and, besides incurring direct loss and punishment thereby, they earn contempt through their failures, make themselves ridiculous and live in dishonour and humiliation.

“And the same is true of communities. You find that whenever a state, in ignorance of its own power, goes to war with a stronger people, it is exterminated or loses its liberty.”
[30]

“Socrates,” answered Euthydemus, “you may rest assured that I fully appreciate the importance of knowing oneself. But where should the process of self-examination begin? I look to you for a statement, please.”
[31]

“Well,” said Socrates, “I may assume, I take it, that you know what things are good and what are evil?”

“Of course, for if I don’t know so much as that, I must be worse than a slave.”

“Come then, state them for my benefit.”

“Well, that’s a simple matter. First health in itself is, I suppose, a good, sickness an evil. Next the various causes of these two conditions — meat, drink, habits — are good or evil according as they promote health or sickness.”
[32]

“Then health and sickness too must be good when their effect is good, and evil when it is evil.”

“But when can health possibly be the cause of evil, or sickness of good?”

“Why, in many cases; for instance, a disastrous campaign or a fatal voyage: the able-bodied who go are lost, the weaklings who stay behind are saved.”

“True; but you see, in the successful adventures too the able-bodied take part, the weaklings are left behind.”

“Then since these bodily conditions sometimes lead to profit, and sometimes to loss, are they any more good than evil?”

“No, certainly not; at least so it appears from the argument.
[33]
But wisdom now, Socrates, — that at any rate is indisputably a good thing; for what is there that a wise man would not do better than a fool?”

“Indeed! have you not heard how Daedalus was seized by Minos because of his wisdom, and was forced to be his slave, and was robbed of his country and his liberty, and essaying to escape with his son, lost the boy and could not save himself, but was carried off to the barbarians and again lived as a slave there?”

“That is the story, of course.”

“And have you not heard the story of Palamedes? Surely, for all the poets sing of him, how that he was envied for his wisdom and done to death by Odysseus.”

“Another well-known tale!”

“And how many others, do you suppose, have been kidnapped on account of their wisdom, and haled off to the great King’s court, and live in slavery there?”
[34]

“Happiness seems to be unquestionably a good, Socrates.”

“It would be so, Euthydemus, were it not made up of goods that are questionable.”

“But what element in happiness can be called in question?”

“None, provided we don’t include in it beauty or strength or wealth or glory or anything of the sort.”

“But of course we shall do that. For how can anyone be happy without them?”
[35]

“Then of course we shall include the sources of much trouble to mankind. For many are ruined by admirers whose heads are turned at the sight of a pretty face; many are led by their strength to attempt tasks too heavy for them, and meet with serious evils: many by their wealth are corrupted, and fall victims to conspiracies; many through glory and political power have suffered great evils.”
[36]

“Well now, if I am at fault in praising even happiness, I confess I know not what one should ask for in one’s prayers.”

“But perhaps you never even thought about these things, because you felt so confident that you knew them. However, as the state you are preparing yourself to direct is governed by the people, no doubt you know what popular government is?”

“I think so, certainly.”
[37]

“Then do you suppose it possible to know popular government without knowing the people?”

“Indeed I don’t.”

“And do you know, then, what the people consists of?”

“I think so.”

“Of what do you suppose it to consist?”

“The poorer classes, I presume.”

“You know the poor, then?”

“Of course I do.”

“And you know the rich too?”

“Yes, just as well as the poor.”

“What kind of men do you call poor and rich respectively?”

“The poor, I imagine, are those who have not enough to pay for what they want; the rich those who have more than enough.”
[38]

“Have you observed, then, that some who have very little not only find it enough, but even manage to save out of it, whereas others cannot live within their means, however large?”

“Yes, certainly — thanks for reminding me — I know, in fact, of some despots even who are driven to crime by poverty, just like paupers.”
[39]

“Therefore, if that is so, we will include despots in the people, and men of small means, if they are thrifty, in the rich.”

“I am forced to agree once more,” cried Euthydemus, “evidently by my stupidity. I am inclined to think I had better hold my tongue, or I shall know nothing at all presently.” And so he went away very dejected, disgusted with himself and convinced that he was indeed a slave.
[40]

Now many of those who were brought to this pass by Socrates, never went near him again and were regarded by him as mere blockheads. But Euthydemus guessed that he would never be of much account unless he spent as much time as possible with Socrates. Henceforward, unless obliged to absent himself, he never left him, and even began to adopt some of his practices. Socrates, for his part, seeing how it was with him, avoided worrying him, and began to expound very plainly and clearly the knowledge that he thought most needful and the practices that he held to be most excellent.

3.
Skill in speaking and efficiency in affairs, therefore, and ingenuity, were not the qualities that he was eager to foster in his companions. He held that they needed first to acquire prudence. For he believed that those faculties, unless accompanied by prudence, increased in their possessors injustice and power for mischief.
[2]

In the first place, then, he tried to make his companions prudent towards the gods. Accordingly he discoursed on this topic at various times, as those who were present used to relate. The following conversation between him and Euthydemus I heard myself.
[3]

“Tell me, Euthydemus,” he began, “has it ever occurred to you to reflect on the care the gods have taken to furnish man with what he needs?”

“No, indeed it has not,” replied Euthydemus.

“Well, no doubt you know that our first and foremost need is light, which is supplied to us by the gods?”

“Of course; since without light our eyes would be as useless as if we were blind.”

“And again, we need rest; and therefore the gods grant us the welcome respite of night.”

“Yes, for that too we owe them thanks.”
[4]

“And since the night by reason of her darkness is dim, whereas the sun by his brightness illuminates the hours of the day and all things else, have they not made stars to shine in the night, that mark the watches of night for us, and do we not thereby satisfy many of our needs?”

“That is so.”

“Moreover, the moon reveals to us not only the divisions of the night, but of the month too.”

“Certainly.”
[5]

“Now, seeing that we need food, think how they make the earth to yield it, and provide to that end appropriate seasons which furnish in abundance the diverse things that minister not only to our wants but to our enjoyment.”

“Truly these things too show loving-kindness.”
[6]

“Think again of their precious gift of water, that aids the earth and the seasons to give birth and increase to all things useful to us and itself helps to nourish our bodies, and mingling with all that sustains us, makes it more digestible, more wholesome, and more palatable: and how, because we need so much of it, they supply it without stint.”

“That too shows design at work.”
[7]

“Think again of the blessing of fire, our defence against cold and against darkness, our helpmate in every art and all that man contrives for his service. In fact, to put it shortly, nothing of any account that is useful to the life of man is contrived without the aid of fire.”

“This too is a signal token of loving-kindness.”
[8]

“Think again how the sun, when past the winter solstice, approaches, ripening some things and withering others, whose time is over; and having accomplished this, approaches no nearer, but turns away, careful not to harm us by excess of heat; and when once again in his retreat he reaches the point where it is clear to ourselves, that if he goes further away, we shall be frozen with the cold, back he turns once more and draws near and revolves in that region of the heavens where he can best serve us.”

“Yes, verily, these things do seem to be done for the sake of mankind.”
[9]

“And again, since it is evident that we could not endure the heat or the cold if it came suddenly, the sun’s approach and retreat are so gradual that we arrive at the one or the other extreme imperceptibly.”

“For myself,” exclaimed Euthydemus, “I begin to doubt whether after all the gods are occupied in any other work than the service of man. The one difficulty I feel is that the lower animals also enjoy these blessings.”
[10]

“Yes,” replied Socrates, “and is it not evident that they too receive life and food for the sake of man? For what creature reaps so many benefits as man from goats and sheep and horses and oxen and asses and the other animals? He owes more to them, in my opinion, than to the fruits of the earth. At the least they are not less valuable to him for food and commerce; in fact a large portion of mankind does not use the products of the earth for food, but lives on the milk and cheese and flesh they get from live stock. Moreover, all men tame and domesticate the useful kinds of animals, and make them their fellow-workers in war and many other undertakings.”

“There too I agree with you, seeing that animals far stronger than man become so entirely subject to him that he puts them to any use he chooses.”
[11]

“Think again of the multitude of things beautiful and useful and their infinite variety, and how the gods have endowed man with senses adapted for the perception of every kind, so that there is nothing good that we cannot enjoy; and again, how they have implanted in us the faculty of reasoning, whereby we are able to reason about the objects of our perceptions and to commit them to memory, and so come to know what advantage every kind can yield, and devise many means of enjoying the good and driving away the bad;
[12]
and think of the power of expression, which enables us to impart to one another all good things by teaching and to take our share of them, to enact laws and to administer states.”

“Truly, Socrates, it does appear that the gods devote much care to man.”

“Yet again, in so far as we are powerless of ourselves to foresee what is expedient for the future, the gods lend us their aid, revealing the issues by divination to inquirers, and teaching them how to obtain the best results.”

“With you, Socrates, they seem to deal even more friendly than with other men, if it is true that, even unasked, they warn you by signs what to do and what not to do.”
[13]

“Yes, and you will realise the truth of what I say if, instead of waiting for the gods to appear to you in bodily presence, you are content to praise and worship them because you see their works. Mark that the gods themselves give the reason for doing so; for when they bestow on us their good gifts, not one of them ever appears before us gift in hand; and especially he who co-ordinates and holds together the universe, wherein all things are fair and good, and presents them ever unimpaired and sound and ageless for our use, and quicker than thought to serve us unerringly, is manifest in his supreme works, and yet is unseen by us in the ordering of them.
[14]
Mark that even the sun, who seems to reveal himself to all, permits not man to behold him closely, but if any attempts to gaze recklessly upon him, blinds their eyes. And the gods’ ministers too you will find to be invisible. That the thunderbolt is hurled from heaven, and that he overwhelms all on whom he falls, is evident, but he is seen neither coming nor striking nor going. And the winds are themselves invisible, yet their deeds are manifest to us, and we perceive their approach. Moreover, the soul of man, which more than all else that is human partakes of the divine, reigns manifestly within us, and yet is itself unseen.