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

by Xenophon

  “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.

  “For these reasons it behoves us not to despise the things that are unseen, but, realising their power in their manifestations, to honour the godhead.” [15]

  “Socrates,” replied Euthydemus, “that I will in no wise be heedless of the godhead I know of a surety. But my heart fails me when I think that no man can ever render due thanks to the gods for their benefits.” [16]

  “Nay, be not down-hearted, Euthydemus; for you know that to the inquiry, ‘How am I to please the gods?’ the Delphic god replies, ‘Follow the custom of the state’; and everywhere, I suppose, it is the custom that men propitiate the gods with sacrifices according to their power. How then can a man honour the gods more excellently and more devoutly than by doing as they themselves ordain? [17] Only he must fall no whit short of his power. For when he does that, it is surely plain that he is not then honouring the gods. Therefore it is by coming no whit short of his power in honouring the gods that he is to look with confidence for the greatest blessing. For there are none from whom a man of prudence would hope for greater things than those who can confer the greatest benefits, nor can he show his prudence more clearly than by pleasing them. And how can he please them better than by obeying them strictly?” [18]

  Thus by precept and by example alike he strove to increase in his companions Piety and Prudence.

  4. Again, concerning Justice he did not hide his opinion, but proclaimed it by his actions. All his private conduct was lawful and helpful: to public authority he rendered such scrupulous obedience in all that the laws required, both in civil life and in military service, that he was a pattern of good discipline to all. [2] When chairman in the Assemblies he would not permit the people to record an illegal vote, but, upholding the laws, resisted a popular impulse that might even have overborne any but himself. [3] And when the Thirty laid a command on him that was illegal, he refused to obey. Thus he disregarded their repeated injunction not to talk with young men; and when they commanded him and certain other citizens to arrest a man on a capital charge, he alone refused, because the command laid on him was illegal. [4] Again, when he was tried on the charge brought by Meletus, whereas it is the custom of defendants to curry favour with the jury and to indulge in flattery and illegal appeals, and many by such means have been known to gain a verdict of acquittal, he rejected utterly the familiar chicanery of the courts; and though he might easily have gained a favourable verdict by even a moderate indulgence in such stratagems, he chose to die through his loyalty to the laws rather than to live through violating them. [5]

  Such views frequently found expression in his conversations with different persons; I recollect the substance of one that he had with Hippias of Elis concerning Justice. Hippias, who had not been in Athens for a considerable time, found Socrates talking: he was saying that if you want to have a man taught cobbling or building or smithing or riding, you know where to send him to learn the craft: some indeed declare that if you want to train up a horse or an ox in the way he should go, teachers abound. And yet, strangely enough, if you want to learn Justice yourself, or to have your son or servant taught it, you know not where to go for a teacher. [6]

  When Hippias heard this, “How now?” he cried in a tone of raillery, “
still the same old sentiments, Socrates, that I heard from you so long ago?”

  “Yes, Hippias,” he replied, “always the same, and — what is more astonishing — on the same topics too! You are so learned that I daresay you never say the same thing on the same subjects.”

  “I certainly try to say something fresh every time.”

  “Do you mean, about what you know? [7] For example, in answer to the question, ‘How many letters are there in “Socrates” and how do you spell it?’ do you try to say something different now from what you said before? Or take figures: suppose you are asked if twice five are ten, don’t you give the same answer now as you gave before?”

  “About letters and figures, Socrates, I always say the same thing, just like you. As for Justice, I feel confident that I can now say that which neither you nor anyone else can contradict.” [8]

  “Upon my word, you mean to say that you have made a great discovery, if jurymen are to cease from voting different ways, citizens from disputing and litigation, and wrangling about the justice of their claims, cities from quarrelling about their rights and making war; and for my part, I don’t see how to tear myself away from you till I have heard about your great discovery.” [9]

  “But I vow you shall not hear unless you first declare your own opinion about the nature of Justice; for it’s enough that you mock at others, questioning and examining everybody, and never willing to render an account yourself or to state an opinion about anything.”

  “Indeed, Hippias! [10] Haven’t you noticed that I never cease to declare my notions of what is just?”

  “And how can you call that an account?”

  “I declare them by my deeds, anyhow, if not by my words. Don’t you think that deeds are better evidence than words?”

  “Yes, much better, of course; for many say what is just and do what is unjust; but no one who does what is just can be unjust.” [11]

  “Then have you ever found me dealing in perjury or calumny, or stirring up strife between friends or fellow-citizens, or doing any other unjust act?”

  “I have not.”

  “To abstain from what is unjust is just, don’t you think?”

  “Even now, Socrates, you are clearly endeavouring to avoid stating what you think Justice to be. You are saying not what the just do, but what they don’t do.” [12]

  “Well, I thought that unwillingness to do injustice was sufficient proof of Justice. But, if you don’t think so, see whether you like this better: I say that what is lawful is just.’

  “Do you mean, Socrates, that lawful and just are the same thing?”

  “I do.” [13]

  “Because I don’t see what you mean by lawful or what you mean by just.”

  “Does the expression ‘laws of a state’ convey a meaning to you?”

  “It does.”

  “And what do you think they are?”

  “Covenants made by the citizens whereby they have enacted what ought to be done and what ought to be avoided.”

  “Then would not that citizen who acts in accordance with these act lawfully, and he who transgresses them act unlawfully?”

  “Yes, certainly.”

  “And would not he who obeys them do what is just, and he who disobeys them do what is unjust?”

  “Certainly.”

  “Then would not he who does what is just be just, and he who does what is unjust be unjust?”

  “Of course.”

  “Consequently he who acts lawfully is just, and he who acts unlawfully is unjust.” [14]

  “Laws,” said Hippias, “can hardly be thought of much account, Socrates, or observance of them, seeing that the very men who passed them often reject and amend them.”

  “Yes,” said Socrates, “and after going to war, cities often make peace again.”

  “To be sure.”

  “Then is there any difference, do you think, between belittling those who obey the laws on the ground that the laws may be annulled, and blaming those who behave well in the wars on the ground that peace may be made? Or do you really censure those who are eager to help their fatherland in the wars?”

  “No, of course not.” [15]

  “Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian now — have you realised that he would not have made Sparta to differ from other cities in any respect, had he not established obedience to the laws most securely in her? Among rulers in cities, are you not aware that those who do most to make the citizens obey the laws are the best, and that the city in which the citizens are most obedient to the laws has the best time in peace and is irresistible in war? [16] And again, agreement is deemed the greatest blessing for cities: their senates and their best men constantly exhort the citizens to agree, and everywhere in Greece there is a law that the citizens shall promise under oath to agree, and everywhere they take this oath. The object of this, in my opinion, is not that the citizens may vote for the same choirs, not that they may praise the same flute-players, not that they may select the same poets, not that they may like the same things, but that they may obey the laws. For those cities whose citizens abide by them prove strongest and enjoy most happiness; but without agreement no city can be made a good city, no house can be made a prosperous house. [17] And how is the individual citizen less likely to incur penalties from the state, and more certain to gain honour than by obeying the laws? How less likely to be defeated in the courts or more certain to win? Whom would anyone rather trust as guardian of his money or sons or daughters? Whom would the whole city think more trustworthy than the man of lawful conduct? From whom would parents or kinsfolk or servants or friends or fellow-citizens or strangers more surely get their just rights? Whom would enemies rather trust in the matter of a truce or treaty or terms of peace? Whom would men rather choose for an ally? And to whom would allies rather entrust leadership or command of a garrison, or cities? Whom would anyone more confidently expect to show gratitude for benefits received? Or whom would one rather benefit than him from whom he thinks he will receive due gratitude? Whose friendship would anyone desire, or whose enmity would he avoid more earnestly? Whom would anyone less willingly make war on than him whose friendship he covets and whose enmity he is fain to avoid, who attracts the most friends and allies, and the fewest opponents and enemies? [18]

  “So, Hippias, I declare lawful and just to be the same thing. If you are of the contrary opinion, tell me.”

  “Upon my word, Socrates,” answered Hippias, “I don’t think my opinion is contrary to what you have said about Justice.” [19]

  “Do you know what is meant by ‘unwritten laws,’ Hippias?”

  “Yes, those that are uniformly observed in every country.”

  “Could you say that men made them?”

  “Nay, how could that be, seeing that they cannot all meet together and do not speak the same language?”

  “Then by whom have these laws been made, do you suppose?”

  “I think that the gods made these laws for men. For among all men the first law is to fear the gods.” [20]

  “Is not the duty of honouring parents another universal law?”

  “Yes, that is another.”

  “And that parents shall not have sexual intercourse with their children nor children with their parents?”

  “No, I don’t think that is a law of God.”

  “Why so?”

  “Because I notice that some transgress it.” [21]

  “Yes, and they do many other things contrary to the laws. But surely the transgressors of the laws ordained by the gods pay a penalty that a man can in no wise escape, as some, when they transgress the laws ordained by man, escape punishment, either by concealment or by violence.” [22]

  “And pray what sort of penalty is it, Socrates, that may not be avoided by parents and children who have intercourse with one another?”

  “The greatest, of course. For what greater penalty can men incur when they beget children than begetting them badly?” [23]

  “How do they beget children badly then, if,
as may well happen, the fathers are good men and the mothers good women?”

  “Surely because it is not enough that the two parents should be good. They must also be in full bodily vigour: unless you suppose that those who are in full vigour are no more efficient as parents than those who have not yet reached that condition or have passed it.”

  “Of course that is unlikely.”

  “Which are the better then?”

  “Those who are in full vigour, clearly.”

  “Consequently those who are not in full vigour are not competent to become parents?”

  “It is improbable, of course.”

  “In that case then, they ought not to have children?”

  “Certainly not.”

  “Therefore those who produce children in such circumstances produce them wrongly?”

  “I think so.”

  “Who then will be bad fathers and mothers, if not they?”

  “I agree with you there too.” [24]

  “Again, is not the duty of requiting benefits universally recognised by law?”

  “Yes, but this law too is broken.”

  “Then does not a man pay forfeit for the breach of that law too, in the gradual loss of good friends and the necessity of hunting those who hate him? Or is it not true that, whereas those who benefit an acquaintance are good friends to him, he is hated by them for his ingratitude, if he makes no return, and then, because it is most profitable to enjoy the acquaintance of such men, he hunts them most assiduously?”

  “Assuredly, Socrates, all this does suggest the work of the gods. For laws that involve in themselves punishment meet for those who break them, must, I think, be framed by a better legislator than man.” [25]

  “Then, Hippias, do you think that the gods ordain what is just or what is otherwise?”

  “Not what is otherwise — of course not; for if a god ordains not that which is just, surely no other legislator can do so.”

  “Consequently, Hippias, the gods too accept the identification of just and lawful.”

  By such words and actions he encouraged Justice in those who resorted to his company.